


Are You Also Frightened?

by Theriverthewoods



Category: BeamNG.drive (Video Game), McElroy Vlogs & Podcasts RPF, Nick Robinson - Fandom, cgi - Fandom, cool games, cool games inc, coolgamesinc, griffin mcelroy - Fandom
Genre: Accident, BeamNG.Drive - Freeform, Body Horror, Dreams, Gen, Horror, Insanity, Insomnia, Mind Control, Night Terrors, Nightmare, Possession, Reckless Driving, Sleepwalking, car crash, car horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-10-28 07:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 26,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10827024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theriverthewoods/pseuds/Theriverthewoods
Summary: Nick had been having nightmares lately. The forgotten dream he’d mentioned to Griffin was not the first and it certainly was not the last in a string of almost nightly dreams. Dreams that ranged from surreal and calm to downright terrifying. Usually they slipped from his mind before he fully awoke, but sometimes he was left with the odd image or sound. An explosion, a color, a presence coming towards him, a destination.





	1. Sleep Deprivation no.1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've ever written anything like this. I know it's not particularly romantic, although I do enjoy the Nick/Griffin ship. But they always say "write what you'd want to read" and I would really be into some car-boys psychological/physical horror, so hey if anyone else is, this one's for you. 
> 
> Since this is the first thing I've ever done, I'm kinda preemptively posting it just to see what this is like. I might edit it a little from what it is now, but nothing major.

Chapter 1

The street was quiet. Nick shoved his hands in his pockets to keep out the chill, as the wind blew his hair across his face. He looked down, studying the sidewalk. He passed a row of brick houses. Each one preceded by a green, cut lawn. Some had flat stone paths leading to stone steps to a wooden door with a small metal knocker or doorbell. Others had trees. The sky was blue. There was no one else on the street. Nick could hear the wind rustle the leaves in the trees. He could feel goosebumps on his skin, his exposed arms against the cold air. He turned toward one of the houses. His footsteps were loud on the pavement, loud on the flat stone path, the stone steps. He could hear his breathing bouncing off the wooden door and back into his ears. He could see his face reflected in the opaque window, there was no one behind him. He turned around anyway. He could see his breathing in the air. Someone knocked at the door and someone inside turned the handle and opened it. He stepped in backwards. He didn’t look inside. He could hear his footsteps against the hardwood floor. He could hear something moving in the distance. He moved to the window and looked outside his breath fogged the glass. He wanted to wipe it but didn’t lift his arm from the sill, hands pressed down. He moved his face closer to the glass. He could see something rounding the corner. There was something else in the house. He could feel the heavy air press around him. Goosebumps raised on his skin everywhere. It was in front of him now. Coming down the street very fast. It crashed into the window. The window exploded. The house exploded. The air inside the house, like gas, lit. Everything blasted in every direction in an explosion of color and space, but no sound. Everything was silent. Except for Nick.

Who woke screaming.  
Covered in sweat, Nick’s eyes burst open as he lunged forward. Now sitting up, breathing heavily, he tried to catch his breath. His room was dark, only shadows and shapes. He lifted his hand and brushed his hair out of his face and his eyes slowly adjusted to the dark. He was fine, alone, in his room. It had just been a freaky dream. “What the fuck” he breathed, settling into a more relaxed sitting position. He looked over to his bedside table at his alarm clock – 4AM. He sighed as he fell back down into his pillow, arms outstretched. Staring at the ceiling, he reluctantly attempted to remember his dream, but it was already slipping from his mind. The images dissolved as he tried to put them together. He could only remember the fear. 

“You alright my-guy?” Griffin said, his voice playful and lively as usual as they recorded their podcast. “I feel like I’m uh-havin all the really bangin ideas here this week.” Nick smiled faintly on his end and leaned his head on his hand. “Yeah I’m just a little bit tired today” He said as he stifled a yawn. “I went to bed at like 5 last night”.  
“Nich-o-las… why?”  
“I had some crazy nightmare and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I don’t remember what it was about, I just know something exploded? Maybe? haha”  
“Oh man, bummer. That sucks dude! I hope you get a good night’s sleep tonight.”  
“Yeah I’ll be fine. It’s probably just stress or something, I dunno.. Anyway don’t worry about me, go back to having all of your ‘bangin ideas’ while I just, uh, move my mic to the floor... and maybe lie down…”  
“Ni-ick!” Griffin laughed. 

Nick had been having nightmares lately. The forgotten dream he’d mentioned to Griffin was not the first and it certainly was not the last in a string of almost nightly dreams. Dreams that ranged from surreal and calm to downright terrifying. Usually they slipped from his mind before he fully awoke, but sometimes he was left with the odd image or sound. An explosion, a color, a presence coming towards him, a destination. Nothing made any sense. After the initial shock or panic wore off he was stuck with an uneasy feeling of dread, and an understandable reluctance to go back to sleep. He often stayed up and played on his switch or tweeted stupid ideas, or just lay, staring at the ceiling, thinking of too many things to fall asleep. He thought he’d managed to successfully hide his exhaustion from Griffin during their recording sessions but he never knew how much Griffin really picked up on underneath his veil of unashamed goofs or comical outrage. He didn’t want to worry anybody really. The whole situation kinda creeped him out, but he knew his half-hearted, deflecting line earlier was really the most probable explanation. “It’s probably just stress, or something..” He assured himself as he drifted off to sleep again.


	2. It´s Like a Heartbeat, Only It Isn't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sleepwalking huh?” Griffin asked, while clicking away on something on his computer. Casual talk before they began to record. “Man I’ve never sleepwalked before, where’d you go?”  
> “Oh nowhere really, just like, woke up staring at the door of my room. Nothin’ unusual”  
> “Yeah man, ‘nothin’ unusual’, that’s some Paranormal Activity shit! If I wake up and find you creepily just staring at me in my bed at night”  
> “How could I possibly Griffin-“  
> “I will not hesitate to call the Ghoul-Smashers on you, I’ve got connections.”  
> “Mmhmm…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2? More (hopefully) creepy dreams for Nick, sorry Nick.

Chapter 2

Nick could feel his shoes just barely scrape the floor. His hair floated through the air, trailing behind his head as he looked around, twisting his torso. There was nothing here. Just blue sky and an endless expanse of smooth ground. Nothing. But Nick didn’t want to stay in one place. He could hear some kind of distant rumbling, an unexplained noise. He could feel it in his ears. He blinked, and looked down, waving his arms. Willing himself to lower to the ground so that he could stand, could walk, could stagger forwards. The noise was almost imperceptible but getting louder. He swung his legs and felt his shoes brush the floor. Moving more and more until he had enough traction to move forward. Squinting his eyes he could see that it wasn’t just an endless expanse. There were trees in the distance. There was green. He could hear the sound clearly now but couldn’t describe it. He pulled his way forward, reaching with every fiber of his being toward the green, willing himself to move faster, take longer strides, but he staggered and lurched, each step uneven and slow. Still, the trees grew bigger. And he could see that it was a patch of nature, forest, like a mirage on the desert. The sun was present in his vision now, was it a mirage? He covered more ground, the grass and sand rolling out towards him quickly. His long bangs flew along behind him. The rush in his ears distracted him from the sound which was loud, now. He ran and ran faster and faster, until he saw great grey walls rise up around the trees and grass and water. Higher and higher, into the sky. He stopped running. He couldn’t help himself but with wide eyes he twisted around, the sound behind him combined with his own hyperventilation rushing in his ears. Everything turned slow. He could see it coming after him and turned once more to dash towards the green. He could see a white light and knew it was an escape. _An Exit._ But as he turned walls rose up around him and he screamed as his hands pointlessly reached up against them.

Nick’s eyes adjusted to the darkness of his room, and tottered with an awful feeling of vertigo. He was standing up. One hand flat against his door, the other on the handle. He let out a release of air that he’d been holding. Obviously he’d sleepwalked. Or at least sleep-stood and sleep walked five steps to the door of his room. The door-handle felt alien in his hand so he let it go. He had an impulse to open his door - as if he knew where dream-nick had been planning to go. But his mind filled in the dark hallway with a number of shadowy and unnerving creatures so he decided to tackle leaving his room in the morning, preferably while conscious. He couldn’t remember much about his dream, just walls, and green, and orange, behind him.

“Sleepwalking huh?” Griffin asked, while clicking away on something on his computer. Casual talk before they began to record. “Man I’ve never sleepwalked before, where’d you go?”  
“Oh nowhere really, just like, woke up staring at the door of my room. Nothin’ unusual”  
“Yeah man, ‘nothin’ unusual’, that’s some Paranormal Activity shit! If I wake up and find you creepily just staring at me in my bed at night”  
“How could I possibly Griffin-“  
“I _will not hesitate_ to call the Ghoul-Smashers on you, I’ve got connections.”  
“Mmhmm…”  
“Anyway if you DO go anywhere crazy you should tell me, I don’t want you walking off roofs or some shit.”  
“Yeah man, if I ever figure out where sleepy-Nick is going I’ll tell you when he gets there”

But Nick didn’t tell Griffin.  
“Yeah it’s stopped happening. I dunno man, must have been having some crazy dream. Maybe I just had to go to the bathroom but woke up before I could get there! haha”  
Nick said.

In reality he found himself further and further away each night. It started like the first night, waking up sitting on his bed, or just falling off it. Getting to his door before waking up, fingers on the handle. But eventually he woke up and the door was behind him, creaking eerily on its hinges. Him standing barefoot in the shadowy hall. He did not like this new development, and, coupled with the insane dreams (which were still impossible to retain) it made for a bumpy sleep schedule. Every night he was further and further away. Further down his hall before something in his dream shook him awake, down the stairs, in the living room, by the window. Every time he woke he felt that he was grasping at something. That something in his dreams was just out of reach and if he got there he could escape. A white light. _An Exit_.  
Nick truly felt scared when he jerked awake to find the open sky above him, a breeze on his face blowing his hair into his eyes. Soft grass between his toes. His door wide open behind him.  
“Oh my god what is this, why is this happening??” He murmured.  
He brought his hands up to rub his face as he sank exhaustedly down into the grass.

No matter what he tried, searching furiously on the internet for tips and tricks to control your sleep, your dreams, your sleepwalking, he found himself advancing across his lawn. Always with the unexplainable feeling that something, _something_ was missing.. But he just couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Oh so it's stopped? _Bo-ring!_ Aw man, I was hoping you’d have some cool sleepwalk stories to tell me!”  
“Uh, yeah dude let me tell you about the sweet time I played DDR while unconscious, it rocked.”  
“I’m sure that was the time you got triple A rating right? Ah beans I was _worried_ I was gonna find sleepy-Nick haunting my own house where I live!”  
“Griffin dude how would I even get in I don’t have the keys to your house!”  
“Hahaha, this is stupid! Let’s record this dumb thing.”

 _Something missing…_ Nick thought again as he lay in his bed, hoping to maybe get in a few hours, or minutes rest before the inevitable terror. _God_ he was so tired, he didn’t understand. _Something… what do I need?_ He thought back to his last sleepwalking, the furthest he’d ever gotten.

Outside, he was on the road, the pavement cool and smooth against his bare feet. His hands were pressed against his car window. His head banging dully, rhythmically on the glass. _What is it, what is it…’Griffin… how would… I don’t have_ ’ he murmured again as he drifted off _‘I don’t have… the keys, the keys…’_  
The car keys.


	3. See the Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> . Illuminated by the blue light, and longing for some kind of real, human interaction, he texted an uneasy message to Griffin.  
>  “Late night drive?”  
> He put his phone down in the cup-holder and crossed both arms on the steering wheel, resting his head upon them, face down. He felt drained. Griffin must be asleep, obviously. It’s 2 in the morning.  
> But Nick’s phone buzzed - “Trouble sleeping?”  
> “Mmhmm” Nick responded, comforted that Griffin had been up. Or more likely had been woken up. Nick had been joking about the “late night drive” thing, but now reconsidered. He was already in his car, jumpy from his dream, and a quiet, slow drive at night might be a pretty good way to calm down.  
> He glanced at Griffin’s lightly concerned reply.  
> “Be careful out there dude”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone read this? Hmm hmm, who knows...

Chapter 3  
  
      Nick sat up slowly in his bed, and turned till his legs slid over the side and onto the floor. His head hung lazily down and his eyelids fluttered, open but glazed over, seeing nothing. His bangs fell forward into his eyes. Slowly he stood up and shuffled over to the door of his room. He put his hand on the handle and pulled down and back.  
  
      Nick ran faster than he’d ever run before. He remembered this world, where he’d died so many times. His eyes were wide with terror as he flew through the grey expanse, acutely aware of the shifting indescribable _orange_ chasing him. He could see the green space, like always, like every time before when he had turned back just in time to see the thing burst into him, a sharp painful flash and then…nothing. Just a black, bottomless sea that would pull Nick further and further down. The white light that Nick knew promised escape fading further and further away till it vanished altogether. Last time he had gotten so close to escaping, but now he knew what he needed to do it. The words _keys_ reverberated around his mind.  
      For the first time he made it to the greenspace. His eyes were wide with terror, but also with exhilaration. He felt the presence behind him cast a shadow across the whole land. _Keys, keys, keys!_ he thought wildly. Dropping to his knees and plunging his hands into the undergrowth. The plant-life seemed flimsy or fake. Just a flat image. He felt like his hands reached below it, below the floor, and blindly he waved them around, conscious of the rapidly growing threat behind him. He was so close. _“Come on…come on!!”_ he exclaimed as his hand grasped something solid beneath him. He pulled it up but had to shut his eyes, for in his hand was a flashing golden light. He gasped as he pulled himself to his feet. Gravity seemed against him, everything was so heavy. His shoes scraped the fake dirt as he lunged forward with all his might, his fingers wrapped tight around the gold light. He couldn’t run fast enough, his legs continually collapsing beneath him. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears as the rumbling sound caught up with him but still he kept scrambling forward. Toward the white light, which seemed bigger and brighter than ever before. Again, walls rose up around him, but he didn’t turn around. He threw up his hands and closed his eyes and the gold light destroyed the walls. Nick could run freely now, and with his eyes shut tight and the orange shifting horror bearing down upon him jumped headfirst into the white light of escape.  
  
      He put his hands on the wheel and his feet on the pedals, the rumbling sound of the engine in his ears and pressed his foot down hard on the gas. The car jumped forward, and whacked Nick’s head against the steering wheel. With a blink, he came to. Horrified, he realized he had been just about to drive, in his sleep. He gripped the wheel with both hands as he shook his head, still tense from the excitement of the dream. He could remember the white light, and something about a golden key, which drew his eye towards the swinging keys in the ignition. Shakily he reached one hand down and into his pocket, pulling out his glowing phone. He’d taken to sleeping with it in his pocket on the possibility he’d wake up somewhere unknown or dangerous. Illuminated by the blue light, and longing for some kind of real, human interaction, he texted an uneasy message to Griffin.  
      “Late night drive?”  
      He put his phone down in the cup-holder and crossed both arms on the steering wheel, resting his head upon them, face down. He felt drained. _Griffin must be asleep, obviously. It’s 2 in the morning._  
      But Nick’s phone buzzed - “Trouble sleeping?”  
      “Mmhmm” Nick responded, comforted that Griffin had been up. Or more likely had been woken up. Nick had been joking about the “late night drive” thing, but now reconsidered. He was already in his car, jumpy from his dream, and a quiet, slow drive at night might be a pretty good way to calm down.  
      He glanced at Griffin’s concerned reply.  
      “Be careful out there dude”  
  
      And Nick was careful. He drove through backstreets and wooded roads, and through the city, glowing with neon in the dead of night. He was quickly amazed at how great he felt just cruising along, quiet and alone and relaxed. He only nodded off once or twice, and even then only for a few seconds. He could forgive himself for that, he’d had such a rough time sleeping lately, no wonder he was tired. He returned home at 4:30am, parked his car, walked in through his open door (still left open from his sleepwalk earlier in the night) and fell into bed and into a deep, dreamless sleep.  
  
  
  
      Nick regularly started going out for late-night drives.  
His bad dreams lessened, his exhaustion decreased. He found that just driving for an hour enabled him to sleep peacefully for the rest of the night. Although usually he couldn’t help himself from driving for two or three. Sometimes before he realized it, it was morning, and he’d suddenly be surrounded by other cars on the road. Being around other cars made him feel funny, although he couldn’t quite name the feeling. But heeding Griffin’s late night concern, he was _always_ careful.  
He was careful when he drove next to a cement wall and couldn’t help but imagine his car’s sides scraping alongside it, the twisting metal and scraping paint. And he was careful when he slowly passed a row of parked cars, and in his mind’s eye saw their fronts battered and broken. These alarming thoughts seemed to come out of nowhere, but Nick couldn’t really mind - He was sleeping like a baby.  
  
      The night-time drives began to become everything to Nick. Driving during the day wasn’t the same, he didn’t have the same freedom, and so he began to plan his whole day around when and where he was going to go in the early hours of the morning. He absentmindedly participated in he and Griffin’s podcast, and posted fewer and fewer videos to his own channel. He contributed less as he stayed increasingly inside his own head, humming mildly to himself. Gradually forgetting to maintain appearances with friends and colleagues, Nick was no longer conscious of what others thought of him.  
  
  
      He’d only started crashing recently.


	4. Sun in your eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He’d only started crashing recently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok well I dunno, I really enjoyed writing this chapter! So hopefully someone enjoys reading it :0

Chapter 4  
  
Nick really, truly enjoyed driving. In the past he had done so as more of a necessity, a convenience to get from place to place. But now he felt a surprising exhilaration every time he was on the go, behind a wheel. The sound of the keys in the ignition, gravel crunching under tires, the rush of wind all around him, all of it filled him with a peculiar elation. Nick often didn’t drive to anywhere in particular, but felt oddly self-conscious on the roads, preferring to drive at night, when he could be himself, and cruise leisurely. Recently Nick had been plagued with surreal, disturbing nightmares, and experienced episodes of sleepwalking, but as soon as he’d started going on late night drives, all of that had cleared up. Ironically, he used to sleepwalk to his car, now he didn’t need to! He walked there on his own volition. He could hardly remember anything about his dreams, and didn’t care to try. He enjoyed going out, replacing sleepless nights of terror with sleepless nights of driving.  
  
He’d only started crashing recently.   
The first few weeks he’d just driven. Nothing major, just casual cruising – maybe, sometimes, a little bit recklessly, but all completely legal.  
But then one night while backing up he lightly bumped a low pole, sticking up from the curb. Of course he felt the immediate sensation of dread, worrying about the trouble he might get in. Then he realised as he opened the door and stepped out onto the concrete. _It’s the dead of night, it’s dark, no one is here..._ He hadn’t troubled anyone but himself, he hadn’t hurt anything but his own car. Who could be mad at him for that! _And it’s only a small dent.._ He thought, running his fingers lightly over the depression in the shiny metal. For some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off of it. He just stroked it with his fingers, before quietly getting back in his car and sheepishly driving away and straight home.  
  
As he drove, an image briefly flashed into his mind of his own car, completely mangled and twisted and so destroyed that it could hardly be called a “car” anymore. It looked like something out of one of his forgotten dreams and he bristled at the thought of it. But couldn’t deny that he felt a certain eagerness at imagining it. Just the one small dent alone kept him jumpy and awake the rest of the night.  
  
The first few weeks he’d just driven. But now crashing became essential. He couldn’t feel relaxed unless he did. Once just driving was enough to calm him down, but now he clenched the wheel, tense and uptight, driving rigidly down roads and alleys until he could locate a suitably strong, damaging, but unimportant structure to hit. It was a strange compulsion, but as soon as Nick heard and felt the crunch of metal and saw the damage he was filled with such a feeling of warmth that he couldn’t help himself. He didn’t even need to leave his car anymore to see the dents, able to perfectly envision the damage in his mind.  
  
And once or twice, he’d daringly hit a parked car… _Griffin started to wonder about Nick._ All of that beautiful, shiny metal _He’d been vague and unsocial lately…_ Crunching and bunching up, the noise… _Griffin’s concern’s grew as Nick’s contributions, vocally, to their podcast dwindled._ The incredible destruction to the front of the car, his and the stranger’s _“Hey buddy are you ok? Lately you’ve been kinda…”_ The falling, clinking little bits and pieces _“distant”_ the heart-wrenching lurch _“nick”_ the exhilarating escape _“Nick!”_ through backstreets and forest roads _“NICK”_ the- the...oh fuck _“Are you ok?”_ Oh my god what was he thinking _“Hey man talk to me!”_  
“I- I was in an accident” Nick blurted out, abruptly pulled out of his reverie.  
“What?” Griffin exclaimed, relieved to hear Nick’s small voice come through on the other end.  
“It was… ah, uh, man…” _fuck, fuck oh my god what have I been doing???_  
“Nick what? What happened? Are you alright?”  
Hearing Griffin’s voice had brought Nick back into reality. It was as if he had been in some sort of weird, mellow trance. He now blinked, looking down, horrified as he thought back on his recent, late-night activity. He started to breath heavily. The lights around him were too bright, every noise seemed to repeat and repeat in his ears. It felt like one of his nightmares, where everything looks alright but is so wrong… He brought his hands up to his head. _Ahh, haaa, fuck what is wrong with me?_  
“Dude, I can’t hear you, talk to me. I paused the recording, what’s going on?”  
_the dreams and the nightmares and now this_ “I hit a parked car, last night, late last night..”  
“Fuck Nick… are you alright?”  
“Yeah… yeah I’m fine..”  
“You don’t sound fine. What happened? Late at night? What were you doing?”  
“It was, I was just…” Nick suddenly felt relieved at being able to talk to someone. He’d kept the sleepwalking hidden and the driving but this was too much it was--  
“It was a… hit and run”  
“Nick…”  
\- It _was_ too much. He couldn’t tell Griffin anything, despite how much he desperately wanted to. He wanted to tell Griffin everything, everything. But if Griffin saw his car, knew about what he was doing… Nick must be losing his mind.  
“Nick? What are you-“  
“I uh, I think I’m gonna go..” He couldn’t handle this. He couldn’t hear his friend so concerned and confused and not be able to explain anything because it was too insane to even think of.  
“Wait Nick! What the fuck, I want to talk to you—“  
  
Nick disconnected the call and rubbed his face with his hands, breathing out a heavy breath. Shakily he got up from his desk and left. He found his car at the curb and recoiled, acutely aware of the obvious, visible damage, but reluctantly got in. He was nervous of holding the wheel, putting his foot on the pedal, as if he didn’t trust the car, or himself.  
  
The sky was blue and sunny, and Nick drove along, desperately trying to be calm while his mind whirled in a thousand different directions. He was jumpy and couldn’t bear driving alongside other people. They all looked so comfortable and normal in their cars, going along their merry way. Everything Nick touched made the hairs stand up on his arms. So he sharply turned off the main road and onto a discreet, side street - only one lane, with no other cars around. He felt better, and almost relaxed into the smoothness of the drive... until he saw something flash in his side mirror. _Something orange, no, it was gone…_ He kept driving, but he saw it again, a moment longer. _Splintering color and shapes.._ It was indescribable but distinctly memorable. _The car was rumbling loudly, was it the car?_ It was the threat, the horrifying, demolishing monster from Nick’s dream, how could he forget that? _It bubbled and grew behind him_ All of Nick’s nightmares came flooding back into his mind’s eye, _I have to get away!!!_ He could see it, getting bigger and bigger--  
“Fuck!”  
Nick swerved hard  
  
  
and crashed.


	5. Cities become less important

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The car spun out of control as Nick wrenched the steering wheel over – he had been driving very fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter? Since this one is kinda short I feel like this is gonna be a lot of chapters, sorry.. But don't worry! I know how it ends. Also I felt bad not giving Griffin very much to do so here you go.

Chapter 5  
  
“Nick!” Griffin yelled as he heard Nick abruptly click off on the other end.  
He sat back down in his chair and his anger quickly drained away, leaving him only feeling perplexed and worried. _What had happened to Nick?_ Griffin closed the programs open on his computer, took his headphones off, and pushed his chair away. It seemed they’d have to postpone the podcast for this week, unless Griffin could edit something shorter together – or convince Nick to come back online. But he didn’t really want that. He wanted to talk to Nick informally, and get straight answers. He knew something was up, but he just didn’t know what or why. Obviously Nick was hiding something. Each time Griffin re-listened to their conversations while editing he could hear the exhaustion in Nick, the distracted way he replied to Griffin, how he relied more and more on Griffin to create bits and ideas. Sometimes he would have to forcibly pull Nick out of a daze! Griffin felt himself getting irritated thinking about it. He didn’t care about the show or whatever, he just wanted to know what was going on. Their brief conversation today had revealed more than usual, and for once Griffin thought Nick might actually confide in him, but then he snapped back out of it, like he was afraid of what Griffin would think...  
  
And what did he think? A parked car? Why was Nick out driving late at night? Nick had told Griffin that he’d stopped having nightmares, and they’d joked about sleepwalking, but Griffin couldn’t help but think that none of it had stopped…For all he knew, it – whatever _It_ was, was getting worse…    
_But fuck, Nick! Why won’t you talk to me!_  
  
\---  
  
The car spun out of control as Nick wrenched the steering wheel over – he had been driving very fast. It bounced off the road, rocks and gravel floating around it, flying over a ditch. Nick yelped in fright, but as the mirror twisted towards him he could see that there was nothing behind him, no monster, no horrifying creature. It was all in his head. There had been nothing there.  
But that was all Nick had time to think before his car crashed hard into a tree.  
  
And it felt just as nice as before.  
  
Nick’s face scrunched up as he was pitched into the steering wheel, and immediately pushed back by the airbag. His whole body was tense as the car reeled back on impact.  
He could feel something like sparks exploding inside his gut, in an indescribable sensation. It was like the other times he’d crashed, but multiplied a thousand fold. He let himself be rocked by the still shifting car, unable to move a muscle, too full of adrenaline and excitement. It was as if the world was moving in slow motion.  
  
Finally he shakily unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and fell out of the car. He took a few gasps of air, breathing heavily. He knew the car was totaled, he didn’t even have to look behind him. After a few moments, he pushed himself onto his feet, and took several wobbly steps forward, leaning on a tree. He knew exactly how the car would have been destroyed by the crash, but willed himself to turn around anyways.  
  
The car looked beautiful. All of the new angles caught the sunlight and reflected the world a million times over. Nick could see himself in some of them, upside-down or warped, like a mirror fun-house. _He couldn’t believe he had been going to give this up…He had been going to tell Griffin everything, everything…_ He got closer to the car reaching one hand nervously out to touch it. _Fuck that…that.._  
_...that’s amazing…_  
  
And Nick was back, in the trance.  
  
His car was totaled, but he was close to home, and uninjured – aside from his unsteady legs, so he stumbled his way home.  
  
By the time he arrived home, Nick was surprised at just how amazing he felt. When he got to his own yard again he felt so light and bouncy it was as if he was walking on the Moon, instead of Earth. Even his hair seemed to float in front of his eyes like he was underwater. And there was a lovely breeze too.  
  
It was such a beautiful, sunny day, with endless blue skies, just like in his dreams.


	6. Safe in your arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick was walking on air. He forgot about his flimsy excuse for not going to work, forgot about work altogether. He received a few (or was it a lot? He hadn’t really been counting) texts from Griffin. Serious, worried messages asking about what Nick was doing or feeling or whatever. Although Nick had responded dreamily to the first few, he quickly forgot to reply, or even notice his phone when it started to buzz. He was too happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere along the way I had forgotten to indent paragraphs...
> 
> Also sorry these chapters have been slow, I promise exciting things happen in the next one. D-:

Chapter 6  
  
      Nick was in a wonderful, colorful place. The grass was squishy beneath his feet, the trees were round and each one a different absurd color, red, pink, purple, magenta. Everything was soft. There was no endless expanse. He explored the fantastic place, climbing over hills and valleys. He even discovered a beach of golden sand and a blue, clear ocean – but he didn’t feel like swimming. It was warm and breezy and Nick felt completely at ease. Wandering down to the edge of the sand (which wasn’t really like sand, but it was the right color!) Nick crouched down and peered into the water. He could see fish and other sea-creatures swimming back and forth, and further out, the spout of a blue whale. The sun shone brightly and warmed his back.  
He was going to reach his hand into the water when he suddenly felt a chill come over him. The world around him grew dark, as if night had fallen too quickly. He shivered, and looked over his shoulder. Night hadn’t fallen, in fact the sky was a bright, saturated blue all around him. But he was in shadow. A shadow which grew bigger and bigger all around him. Nick stood up, _Something must be falling from the sky…_ he thought. So he ran away, over another soft green hill. In the corner of his eye he almost saw something big and black roll down the other side of the green, but dismissed it. _It must have just been a passing cloud.._ He thought, and frowned. It was too sunny and warm and nice here, he didn’t want it to rain…  
  
      Nick’s eyes fluttered awake, close to the ceiling, as he fell lightly back down onto his bed. _Must have fallen off my bed or something…_ He thought, as he drowsily swung his legs over the side and got up. Still bleary, he shuffled over to his door, but caught his leg on something sticking out from the wall and stumbled. _What was that?.._ He thought absentmindedly. He was still half in his dream, which was one of the best dreams he’d had in a long time. He had woken up feeling warm and fuzzy himself. As he wandered out into the hall he felt so light on his feet, and the sensation reminded him of the previous day’ events. He tried jumping, and he took so long to fall back down to the carpeted floor. _That breezy feeling when I came home yesterday… I wasn’t dreaming it…_ he murmured pleasantly. He suddenly saw the crash from yesterday in his mind’s eye in perfect detail. It filled him with the same lovely feeling, and he leaned on the wall (which felt somewhat jagged through his shirt) and hummed. His hair floated delicately around him as he slipped quietly down the stairs. Everything seemed slow and gentle. He could see that it was windy outside, but the leaves in the trees twisted around so leisurely. The birds just glided along, gradually moving their wings up and down.  
      Even Nick, who felt more rested than he had in a long time, took his time that morning, unhurriedly making breakfast and getting ready. He enjoyed watching his cereal fall from the box into the bowl oh so slowly. Poking the odd cheerio with his finger, sending it spinning off through the air. Nick hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time.  
      Then his phone rang.  
       
      Nick grabbed it and saw that Griffin was calling.  
      “ _Uhh_ it’s too early for this, I haven’t even really woken up yet...” he said with a pout. Waiting for the ringing to stop and Griffin’s caller ID to go away.  
      But a few minutes later it buzzed again. _Griffin’s probably just annoyed because we didn’t finish the podcast yesterday!_  
      “Hey Nick? Maybe give me a call when you’re up” the text read.    
      “I want to talk to you about yesterday” it buzzed again.  
      “You know you can talk to me right, bud?”  
      “Just wanna make sure you’re OK”  
      Nick’s phone vibrated four times in quick succession.  
      “Well Griff it’s a good thing I’m _not_ sleeping or you would have woken me up!” Nick muttered, before tapping the ‘reply’ button and settling into a comfy chair.  
      “Hey Griffin! Are we sending ‘good morning’ texts now? ;)” Nick tossed his phone into the air playfully and caught it as it lazily drifted down.  
      “Is 1pm ‘morning’ now?” Griffin replied.  
      Nick peered at the time displayed on his phone. It really was 1:00, he must have really slept in! _Oh well,_ He shrugged, _that’s the trade-off for awesome dreams I guess..._  
      “Are you ok?” Nick’s saw the text pop up on his screen.  
      “Yeah dude what’s wrong?”  
      “You vanished yesterday”  
      “Oh yeah sorry! Guess we’ll have to finish the podcast later”  
      “What’s going on with you? Trouble sleeping again?” __  
“What dude? Naw, I’m sleepin fine” Nick smiled, thinking about the pleasant morning.  
      “Can I call? I wanna talk to you” Griffin wrote.  
  
      Hmm Nick grumbled. _Go away Griffin! Why can’t I just enjoy my morning!_ Growing irritated at the endless, unsanctioned questions and concerns of Griffin, Nick got an idea. Mischievously he thought, _I’ll play a trick-y on Griffin, and get a little vacation…_  
      “Oh actually, I’m not feeling too well today :P” Nick giggled to himself.  
      “Really?”  
      “Yeah I think I might take a few days off work”  
      “Oh”  
      “Talk to you later, Sorry about the Podcast!” __  
And with that Nick tossed his phone into the air, and watched it get carried away, bumping into some of the sharp, new angles of the walls.  
  
      Every day was nicer than the last. Nick was wrapped in warm and fuzzy feelings. Every morning he would awake from a beautiful, entertaining, enjoyable dream, and spend the day lazing about his house, doing not much of anything. Watching the leaves drift so slowly by in the window, or just his dark bangs, floating in front of his eyes. Nick was walking on air. He forgot about his flimsy excuse for not going to work, forgot about work altogether. He received a few (or was it a lot? He hadn’t really been counting) texts from Griffin. Serious, worried messages asking about what Nick was doing or feeling or whatever. Although Nick had responded dreamily to the first few, he quickly forgot to reply, or even notice his phone when it started to buzz. He was too happy.  
  
      And then, after a _few_ days, Nick suddenly had the _unusual_ urge to go on a nice, relaxing drive.  
  
      He got dressed in some silly, pastel, comfortable outfit, and wandered out to his lawn. He opened his garage, and inside was a shiny, pristine, white truck. _Did I always drive a truck? ..._ bubbled up from the back of his mind, but was quickly forgotten as he opened the door, climbed inside, and started the ignition.  The edges of the garage were a bit more jagged than usual, but he managed to back out alright, and get out onto the road. He could have driven with his eyes closed - it felt so natural. The sun was out, there was a refreshing breeze, and Nick drove along, one arm lolling out of his window, moving with the wind around the car.  
      After a while he stopped at a red light, and thought he might turn on the radio. He reached forward and clicked it on, and it started to play some delicate, captivating—  
      He heard someone honk, was it directed at him?  
      The radio clicked off, and Nick looked up.  
      Across the intersection, in the driver seat of his own car, was Griffin.  
  
      Who honked again, and furiously threw his arms up.


	7. To the stars! To the Night!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Griffin didn’t know what to make of it. The last time he’d talked to Nick he had been distressed and in some sort of trouble, now he seemed unnervingly happy…and vague... He stared down the road, watching the truck drive away for a while, before getting back into his own car.  
> He just sat, leaning on the wheel, and thought for a few moments. What do I do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's one particular section of this chapter during which I recommend listening to Clair de Lune - I think you'll know it when you get there...
> 
> Also hint hint (God Trash)

Chapter 7  
  
      “Heya Griffin! What are you doing ‘round these parts?” Nick said cheerily, shielding his eyes from the sun.  
      “ _Fuck_ Nick! – I was going to see _you_ ” Griffin exclaimed as he climbed out of his car.  
      Nick leaned lazily on his white truck. After a lot of amusing pointing and gestures by Griffin across the intersection, they had both pulled over on the side of the road. Griffin walked over to Nick, and stood in front of him.  
      “Oh really?” Nick said “Dude you couldn’t live without me for - what, like three days?” He smiled.  
      “It’s been a _week_ Nick! What have you been doing?”  
      “I just thought I’d go out for a drive! It’s such a nice day…” He said dreamily.  
      “That’s not what I meant. What’s going on with you? You’re not coming in to work, you won’t answer my texts—”  
      “Oh! I think I misplaced my phone somewhere…”  
      “Whatever Nick! Just talk to me, tell me what’s happening with you.”  
      Nick did notice that Griffin was agitated.  
      "Are you ok Griff?" Nick asked.  
      "Nick! I'm _worried_. I'm worried about _you_!"  
      "Oh well don't be!” he smiled, “I'm fine. Actually I feel great. I just felt like going on a drive today. It's such a nice day…"  
      Griffin was getting irritated and waved his hand at Nick’s car, “Yeah _about that_ man, since when have you driven a truck?!”  
      “Oh? Humm… I dunno but it drives great!” Nick said, starting to climb back inside. “Anyway I’ve just been feeling so nice at home on vacation, I wish it wouldn’t end! Haha”  
      “ _Vacation_? Nick, you said you were sick.” Griffin said.  
      “Sick?” Nick asked, as he shut the door. “No I feel great! Anyway Griffin, you look at bit worn out, you should go get some sleep!”  
      “Nick!”  
      “Talk to you later!”  
      And nick pulled out and back onto the road, waving from his window. Griffin was left staring after the white truck as it glided down the road, shimmering in the heat.  
  
      Griffin didn’t know what to make of it. The last time he’d talked to Nick he had been distressed and in some sort of trouble, now he seemed unnervingly happy…and vague... He stared down the road, watching the truck drive away for a while, before getting back into his own car.  
      He just sat, leaning on the wheel, and thought for a few moments. _What do I do?_  
      But he didn’t know.  
  
      Griffin drove by Nick’s place. There was a strong breeze blowing the trees, which drifted slowly in the wind, but he couldn’t see anything unusual.  
      So he turned around, and quietly drove back home.  
  
      Nick remembered that he had felt like turning on the radio, and so he leaned forward and clicked it on. It started to play some delicate, captivating classical music. Nick usually didn’t listen to classical, but he was enjoying the gentle notes on the piano. He had forgotten about his encounter with Griffin. He was too absorbed in the scenery around him and the pleasant atmosphere of the day. The day which quickly turned into afternoon, and then evening, as he drove aimlessly around for hours, just driving and listening to music. It was a dark night. Nick drove down the highway. He had no destination in mind, and he didn’t care. He felt no particular attachment to anything where he was, and wanted to just be able to drive forever.  
      As it got later, Nick’s eyes fluttered, and his eyelids began to feel heavy. The smooth driving and pretty piano was very lulling. It was only the bright high beams of the cars coming down the other way that kept him awake.  
      But then.  
      A song came on the radio.  
      And it got stuck in Nick’s head.     
      He couldn’t hear anything except the soft high chords of the piece of music. The melody of rising and falling, gentle notes. And when the low notes came in, and the piece began to build in beautiful intensity, resulting in dramatic, rolling arpeggios he thought, _I think I know this song…_ _it’s, it’s… Claire de Lune…_  
And suddenly he couldn’t do anything but listen to the music and stare at the headlights. It filled his ears and the car and as it grew and grew in passion and drama he thought about how much he’d done it the past little while and how fun it had all been but that he’d never, ever, driving into a moving car, and the headlights on the oncoming lane were so bright and golden… _Like that golden key that I found…once…_ And he thought, it would be so easy to…  
      … _in a dream…_  
      And without thinking about it Nick swerved into the oncoming lane.  
  
      And crashed.  
  
  
But this time, it did not feel nice.  
  
      Both cars were driving at high speeds on the highway when they crashed together, head to head. Nick felt his car lift off the ground as it lurched forward, like driving straight into a wall. The front of the two cars mashed together, with sparks and metal and debris twisting together and flying all around. The radio was still on in Nick’s car but it was playing a different song now and the notes sounded far away, and all jangled together, as if the chords didn’t fit. The noise of the crash was ear-splitting. All of it rushed into Nick’s ears and he couldn’t handle it all at once. He wondered if he was on the moon again - like at home, everything seemed to move so slowly…  
The cars crumpled into each other and Nick felt himself being crushed inside it all. Everything around him seemed to be shifting and undulating, jagged spikes shooting randomly out of the cars’ frames. It hurt. Then suddenly it all exploded outwards, and all he could see was a world of colors and shapes, bits of the cars and the road stretched and warped, as if their angles had been pulled apart with some sort of god-like strength. It was just like the monster from his dreams except now he was inside it and it had taken over the world.  
  
      And then, in a terrifying blink it was gone and Nick was flying through the air, watching the world snap back into place. He remembered he’d forgotten to put his seatbelt back on after talking to Griffin…  
  
      …Who was at home, watching TV. He was trying to unwind after a weird morning and a weird week and a weird _last little while_. He had changed into more comfortable clothes and was curled up on his couch, watching bad late night television to try and keep his mind off of things. But he still kept his phone within reach, just in case. In case of what he didn’t know. He only _wished_ he could have some “Paranormal Activity shit” with a sleepwalking Nick rather than whatever the fuck was going on now!  
      His mind began to furiously wander as he grew bored with whatever reality show was on. He grabbed the remote and randomly changed the channel.  
      The news switched on.  
      And Griffin froze.  
  
      There was a bad car crash on the highway.  
  
      Griffin watched the footage of two cars front to front, smashed to bits. For a split second the cars seemed to.. _pop_ , splintering and unstable in an unbelievable kaleidoscope of metal and machinery, before flashing back to their just conventionally crashed shapes.  
_…Major Crash on the highway this evening…_  
      Even the corners of Griffin’s TV shot off in a few jagged spikes,  
_…Five cars involved…._  
      But Griffin couldn’t have cared less as he got up off the couch and close to the screen, in a daze  
_…Luckily there were no casualties…_  
      He recognized one of the cars, that stupid white truck  
_…serious and minor injuries…_  
      “nicknickNick!” Griffin said  
_…The passengers from one of the cars of the instigating, head on collision have been rescued safely…_  
      Griffin spun around wildly and grabbed his phone  
_...the driver of the white truck has not been found yet…_  
      And his coat  
_…_  
      And his car keys.


	8. The Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “WHERE R U”  
> “NICK”  
> “Hello, you’ve reached Nick Robinson! I can’t—“  
> Griffin hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Griffin to the rescue!!!

Chapter 8  
  
  
       “ _Ahh.. haah…. Ow…”_  
       Nick’s phone rang  
  
  
\----------  
  
  
      Griffin pulled on his coat as he frantically texted Nick.  
      “WHERE R U”  
      “NICK”  
      He tried calling, impatiently fidgeting while he waited and waited for the ringing to stop, but there was no answer.  
     “Hello, you’ve reached Nick Robinson! I can’t—“  
      Griffin hung up.  
      The TV was on behind him, detailing the particulars of the accident and illuminating the room. The edges of the television frame still warped from the explosion. But Griffin had forgotten about it as he pulled open the door, locked it, and bolted down the steps to his car. He tried calling one more time from inside the car, but there was still no answer, so he put the keys in the ignition and started to drive.  
_Fuck! Nicholas!!!_  
  
  
\----------

  
      Nick’s phone rang again.  
      And again, longer.  
      Nick’s eyes had opened facing dirt. There was dirt in his mouth and his hair and under his hands. At first it was too dark and he couldn’t tell where he was. He thought he was dreaming, but even his dreams didn’t feel like this. He coughed and spat and took a shaky breath and forced himself to push up and look around. It was too dark to see anything other than shades of brown and black.  
      His phone rang again.  
      Nick’s eyes finally adjusted and he could see he was surrounded by trees. If he twisted he could see lights over the horizon behind him and the sound of distant sirens. He felt as if all of the wind had been knocked out of him and found it hard to gasp in air. He could barely put together his own thoughts. Nick was more just _feeling._  He twisted himself around more to try and make sense of the situation, but as his eyes fell on the horizon behind him the sky and world switched into bright, flickering shapes, blocking out everything else. He pulled away and the world switched back, leaving him with a sudden headache. _Don’t look behind you._ He put a hand to his head and scrunched up his face. His hair was a tangled mess, and he could feel something slowly trickle down onto his fingers. _Am I hurt?_ Nick thought.  
      And then he remembered.  
      The Crash.  
_Ah… the headlights… I.._  
      He remembered the crash.  
      He remembered flying through the air and an unimaginable explosion of color and shapes.  
_Ok…ok, don’t look behind you…_ He thought, trying to calm himself down. __  
The monster from his dreams. __  
He shifted and sat up and realized he was shaking. __  
Fuck.. did I do this?...I, I can’t…  
      He could feel the darkness pressing all around him. All he could smell was the dirt and trees and he knew he must have been thrown impossibly far from the crash. He brought his other hand up to his face and started to breath heavily. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that it kind of hurt.  
      Nick noticed a blue glow a few feet from where he was and shuffled over slowly. He realized it was his phone. _I told Griffin I’d lost it..._ He thought … _Griffin…  fuck, Griffin! I saw him earlier, didn’t I? What did I say?..._  
      He grabbed the phone and brought it up to his face. 2 Missed Calls. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the bright light of the screen, which now had a large crack running all the way across. Nick could see Griffin’s smiling caller ID, and two texts.  
      “Griffin!”  


\----------  
  
  
      Griffin was driving, trying to speed subtly, so as to not risk getting pulled over. Nothing was going through his mind except an insane need to find out where Nick was and if he was ok. Finally, after about 7 minutes his phone buzzed loudly beside him, jumping up in the cup holder. Griffin jumped at the sound, but grabbed his phone to awkwardly look at the incoming text as he drove.  
      “im ok” it read. It was from Nick.    
      Griffin sighed with relief, and then, lacking the motor skills to text and drive at the same time, waited till a red light to say “Was that u in the accident? Where r u?” Griffin knew that it could have been a different driver in a different white truck, but somehow he was sure it wasn’t.  
      “I duno” was the reply.  
_Shit!_ Griffin thought. He had been listening to the radio, the driver from the white truck still had not been located. “can u describe?” he sent.  
      “T &re$* and# dirt” came the reply. Griffin had trouble making it out. For some reason the letters on his screen seemed a bit jangled. “Shit don’t bug out on me now, phone!!” He said through his teeth.  
      “&her)s H@W”  
_Shit!_  
      Griffin’s screen flickered. The roads had become more and more dense with cars during the drive, as Griffin got closer to where the crash had taken place. Up ahead he could see almost bumper to bumper traffic. He kept anxiously texting Nick, and received slow, short replies which grew increasingly harder to read. It wasn’t typos, it was as if the letters themselves had been warped. They were stretched in different directions, their corners pulled all across his screen. Even the texting program and surrounding apps on his phone began to be unnaturally yanked around. Griffin couldn’t understand it.  
      “ &@#$kin@”  
      “S(%$ u $at78e(*”  
      Griffin searched through the flickering texts with his eyes as they came in, desperately trying to glean any sort of clues towards Nick’s whereabouts.    
      Then:    “##&*(!? H*me|1”  
      “Home?” Griffin wrote.  
      “H@ome*” Nick said.  
      Home? You’re going home? Griffin hoped, and he made up his mind.  
      “OMW” He wrote, before dropping his phone back into the cup-holder where it flickered and glitched out. The traffic was at a standstill but he knew he was close to Nick’s place – where Griffin hoped he’d be. So as soon as he could, he pulled out onto a lonely side street where he could drive as fast as he needed to.  


\----------  
  
  
      Nick stumbled along through the trees, illuminated only by the blue glow of his phone. He held it right up to his face whenever he heard a text come in, squinting at the screen to focus on the letters. He typed in his little replies, and then let his hand drop, his phone glowing bright in his hand as he made his way along.  
After the initial shock had worn off, Nick felt awful. He had a headache, and knew from looking at his hands that something up there was bleeding. Every time he breathed he felt a dull pain in his chest. Everything hurt. He kept trying to think back to what he had been doing over the past days or weeks but nothing came. He could just remember Griffin’s concerned face staring at him, confused. _Griffin_ , at least he had someone to talk to now. But every time he brought his phone up to his face the bright lights blinded him and brought on a wave of aching to his head. And it wasn’t long before he realised that he was having trouble reading Griffin’s texts. The letters seemed to swim in front of his eyes on the screen. The screen flickered and twisted on its own. Even the buttons weren’t working right. He couldn’t get his fingers to land on the right ones in the right order. He tried calling Griffin but the picture of his face on his phone was distorted and bizarre and he didn’t want to look at it. But it kept getting more and more deformed and when Nick’s ringtone went off it was too loud and blaring in his ears so he dropped his phone and ran away. It fell to the ground and bounced as if it could move on its own, jittering and warbling before finally splitting apart into a mass of writhing shapes and spikes. Obscuring Griffin’s text.  
      “Home?”  
  
      Nick kept going. His head hurt so badly he could barely keep his eyes open. He staggered through the woods towards his house, one hand pressed to his forehead underneath his matted bangs. Finally he could see his yard through the trees. But as he grew closer, a strange sensation came over him. He felt so heavy, as if something was pressing down on him, or pulling him down. It got stronger the closer he got to his house. And the wind was hard against him, pulling at the trees and bending them, blowing pebbles across the road. At one point it got so heavy that he stumbled and fell to his knees. But with some last reserve of energy he pushed himself achingly back up to his feet, got to the door, and went inside.  
      Inside it was better. He could stand up straight. But his head hurt so badly he couldn’t think of anything else. He made it through the living room and to the stairs. Although he had trouble navigating the new angles and sharp points which jutted out from walls or furniture, flickering and shifting in the darkness.  
Finally he made it upstairs, and, with more faltering steps, to his bedroom, where he collapsed on his bed and fell unconscious. __  
  


\----------  
   
  
      There had been no more texts from Nick as Griffin sped along down the seemingly abandoned side-street. This was worrying, but Griffin was too focused on getting to Nick’s place as fast as he could to think about it. He also was trying to block out of his mind the possibility that he had misinterpreted Nick’s last text, and was maybe heading in the _complete_ wrong direction. Instead he just drove. His phone had just blacked out now, but there had been a moment when Griffin thought he had almost seen it freak out like his TV had done at home.  
_Hell I can’t think about whatever the FUCK that is right now!_ He thought. He knew he was close now, he was almost at Nick’s place. Griffin noticed some skid marks on the road, and turned his head to where they ended.  
      He slowed down.  
      On the side of the road, over a ditch and crashed headfirst into some trees was a mangled car. Griffin gasped as he recognized it as Nick’s car. His actual real car, not whatever he had been driving before. A cold sweat came over Griffin as he slowed to a stop. He unbuckled his seatbelt, glanced at his phone which still lay inactive beside him, and got out of the car.  
      He cautiously approached the crash, awkwardly skidding down the ditch and climbing back up the other side. He examined the car, inside and out, but could see no sign of Nick. He looked around the car for footprints, or any sign that this is where Nick had just been, but couldn’t see anything. He ran a few steps into the trees and cupped his mouth, yelling.  
      “Nick!” Nothing.  
      In fact, the whole scene looked old. He got no sense of life. The car was settled and dull, and covered with leaves and debris from the trees. Griffin assumed that this was how Nick had lost his car and a new wave of horror washed over him thinking about how and why it had happened. But he decided the best course of action was still to head to Nick’s home and try to find him. So he got back in his car.  
       
      And started the ignition.


	9. The Sun is Going Down no. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Something is fucking falling from the FUCKING sky!"  
> Griffin thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I have a flip phone, I don't understand how Siri works... 
> 
> Also this is when things start getting pretty crazy so hey hey

Chapter 9  
  
       It was dark. Griffin slowed to a stop, the gravel crunching underneath his tires. He squinted at Nick’s house, which looked eerily unlit. Every window was black, and the door was open.  
      The wind was very strong. Twigs and small branches flew into Griffin’s windshield - even the odd small rock bounced up. Griffin parked a little distance from the house, not knowing what to expect. He had been planning on rushing in, but something about the scene made him feel uneasy.  
The wind was insane. It was like a sudden storm. The weather had been clear almost all the way there and now abruptly the wind was tearing though the clearing. The trees twisted, and some were bent at the middle, as if at any moment they could be just torn out of the ground. Griffin almost thought the car itself was rolled a fraction back, and the way things were going today, he wasn’t going to discount it as just his own imagination.  
But. _Ok! Ok it’s just wind… gotta, find Nick._ He thought, getting his confidence up. Thumping a rhythm on the steering wheel with his palms. He put his defunct phone back into his pocket, just in case.  
      Griffin opened the car door. Then opened it again, and again. Every time the wind was so strong he couldn’t get it all the way open. Finally he stopped, breathed, took a big breath and pushed hard against the door, until it was open enough for him to basically fall out of the car. He was glad he’d brought his coat.  
  
      He was also glad he wore glasses, for once, as they shielded his eyes somewhat from the flying debris. He could feel inside his chest that something was really wrong, and knew he _had_ to get to the house. _The dark house._ So he pushed forward, braving the wind. His left arm raised to shield his face.  
      As Griffin slowly moved forward, a strange sensation came over him. He felt sluggish, but he knew he wasn’t tired. In fact he was bursting with energy and pent up anxiety. Yet it was almost like he was trying to walk through water or mud. His head felt heavy, his whole body felt heavy. It was even tiring to keep his arm up by his head. With every step he took it built up, he couldn’t even lift his feet very far off the ground before they fell back down again. He stopped, shaking both with the energy to keep himself erect, and the piercing wind blasting all around him, and looked around. He could see any object that wasn’t being pushed by the wind was on the ground. Even tossed objects would be carried briefly, then quickly descend, rocks didn’t even bounce. They just stopped upon hitting the floor.  
_It’s gravity?!_ Griffin realised _Fuck me!_  
      It was also getting harder to see. It was 11:30 when Griffin had arrived, and should have been as dark as it was going to get that night. But it was nonetheless getting darker. Griffin looked around faster, in a panic. He could see his car and the rest of the yard, and it was normal there. But the closer to the house he got the darker it was all around him. Not only that, but it looked like the darkness was spreading, expanding outwards from Nick’s house.  
      At that instant he felt the gravity increase. With a gasp he was pushed down a bit further. His back hurt as he stood, somewhat crumpled, like an old man. Looking directly down, he could tell that it wasn’t darkness, it was a shadow, a square shadow.  
      And it was slowly getting bigger.  
_Something is fucking falling from the FUCKING sky!_ Griffin thought, terror running through him. He tried looking up, but the gravity was so strong he could no longer raise his head.  
      He knew the house was the closest shelter. So he pushed himself forward, as quickly as he could, despite the fact he was barely strong enough to lift his feet.  
  
  
  
      Griffin was so close. Finally the door was only a few feet away. But Griffin could no longer move. He was pinned completely to the ground by the force of the gravity, lying splayed out on his stomach. He was exhausted, but even breathing was getting harder as he was forced into the dirt by the pressure above him. He had tried to get his phone out as he was going down, in a desperate attempt to call _anybody,_ but couldn’t even lift it out of his pocket.  
Now he just lay, and he could feel the gravity still increasing. Inside his pocket he felt his phone compress and heard the familiar sound of a cracking screen.  
_shit, Shit!! That will be me in a minute!_  
      Griffin moved his fingers. He scraped them through the dirt in front of him. As he pulled, he inched himself forward slightly. Luckily both his arms were lying in front of him. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he painstakingly pulled himself forward along the ground. He had his eyes closed to protect them from the wind, but he knew the shadow was still edging out across the lawn, threatening to fall on any part of him not through the door – which, luckily, had been left open.  
_Thanks Nick_.  
      Finally his fingers felt the frame of the door, and then were on carpet. They felt released, as if the gravity was maybe not as bad on the inside. The more of him that got inside, the easier it was to pull himself through. Until finally his shoulders were at the doorframe and he could raise his head.  
_The shadow was getting bigger._  
      He gagged and coughed.  It was like the nauseous feeling of going from hot to cold too quickly, his head was experiencing what appeared to be normal gravity, while the rest of him was squished. He could still barely breathe, since his chest and lungs were outside. He could pull faster now, and soon most of his torso was inside Nick’s living room - when the gravity increased some more.  
      “OW! Fuck!” Griffin squeezed his eyes shut as his legs were crushed. He heard somewhere behind him, an angry crashing sound, as his car was compressed into itself by the pressure.  
_Now the whole yard was dark, the house almost pitch black._  
Sweating, Griffin managed to pull himself fully into the house. Hey lay there and breathed for a few seconds, blinking and getting his bearings. He was exhausted and sore, but he could feel that he hadn’t been really hurt.  The house was dark. He looked around and sat up, turning to look out of the open door.  
And it was then that the source of the shadow landed.  
  
      Griffin himself was pushed back by the force of the landing, as a huge black, billowing mass plunged into the ground. He opened his eyes and could see nothing. He could no longer hear the outside world and felt as if he’d been sealed in. He clumsily got up and onto his feet, his legs still wobbly, and stumbled towards the wall. He tripped over something in the darkness. His hands hit the wall, and he fumbled for a light-switch, flicking the first one he found. But nothing came on. The storm, the falling- _whatever_ , the wind, gravity, _fuck!_ Something had knocked out the power. Griffin leaned against the wall. He could make out the faintest of black outlines, but there was absolutely no light in the room. He slid down to the ground, and heard something thud faintly beside him – his phone!  
_Which was very much busted_ … Griffin remembered grimly.  
      Nonetheless he pulled it out. In the darkness he could feel the extensive crack on the screen, and some other scrapes and bruises – either caused by tonight’s events, or maybe the result of just the old keys in the same pocket problem. He didn’t have much hope of getting it on. He sat there, pushing at the different buttons at random, holding them all down at once, nothing. Finally he gave up, and set his mind thinking about how he was going to do anything in the dark. When he heard a woman’s voice and jumped at the sound. His phone flashed to life in his hand with the glaring notice.  
_REMINDER_  
      _Start Griffin’s Amiibo Corner season 3!!_ ;)  
      Some stupid drunk reminder popped up on his screen, and his phone was back. Griffin sighed and made a note to thank Siri properly later for bestowing his phone back upon him. And with his phone – light. Griffin couldn’t get into his phone, it was still to broken for that, but at least the screen was bright. Hey maybe the dumb reminder would get Nick to laugh, if he ever found him.  
_Nicholas…_ Griffin worried again.  But first things first.  
      Griffin shone the light around the room, and was taken aback at the new “anatomy” of the place. Huge chunks of the wall jutted out at random angles. Some were actually flickering and shifting, jabbing in and out randomly in sharp spikes. He knew what he had tripped over now. It reminded him of his TV and the cars in the accident. Once again he swallowed his innate terror at the idea of it, and jut focused on the issue at hand. He brought the light over to the door, which had been open when “The thing” fell. It was filled with something black. It sort of bulged into the house a little bit, and pressed up against the glass of the windows, blocking them out completely. Griffin nervously went up to it and put his hand against it. It was soft, and almost felt like fabric stretched over air. The whole thing (at least what Griffin could see of it) rippled when he touched it.  
It was a delightful feeling.  
      Griffin smiled, and pushed his hand into it more, stepping towards it. It was very satisfying to watch, and Griffin felt like just walking into it and seeing how far he could get. He wondered what it would have been like if he had still been outside when it fell and had been swallowed by it. He couldn’t think about anything else. He raised his other hand up to touch it and the light from his forgotten phone shot into his eyes  
_REMINDER_  
      And the reminder glowing on the screen reminded him of himself and reminded him of Nick and he reflexively recoiled and stepped away from, the, the _blob…_  and retreated fretfully into the house.  
      In his reverie he had forgotten the issue at hand. But now he gathered his senses, jumped up and down to shake some life back into his still wobbly legs, and took a deep breath.  


      “NICK!!” He called.  
      “Are you here!!” nothing.  
  
      Griffin went from room to room, the screen of his phone the only source of light. _The Blob_ had covered every exit, every window, every source of air and light. Even though Griffin itched to investigate it, he made sure to avoid it. Every room was distorted, stretched, but there were no signs of life. Soon he was upstairs, endlessly calling Nick’s name, without any kind of response. There was an open door at the end of the hall, and griffin ran down and turned into it.  
  
      It was a bedroom, Nick’s bedroom. And Nick was there. He was lying sprawled on top of the sheets, still fully clothed. He even had his shoes on. Griffin breathed “ _nick_ ” and rushed to the side of the bed.  
      “Nick” He said softly.  
      Griffin propped his phone up on the nightstand so that he didn’t have to hold it. In the bluish light he could see Nick completely - who looked awful. He was sweating, with his eyes shut tight and an expression of pain and dread on his face. He was restless, twisting around, his limbs struggling against nothing, his fingers clutching the sheets.               Griffin was overcome with compassion.  
      “Nick! Buddy, wake up”  
      He reached forward to touch Nick’s shoulder. And when Nick turned towards him again he could see that Nick was covered in dirt and grime.  
      And he could see that there was blood on his shirt, and his hands, and his head, trickled down his face. His hair was a tangled mess. Griffin was taken aback.  
      “Nick! Nicholas!” Griffin urgently whispered.  
_How badly is he hurt??_  
      “Wake up Nick!”  
_Fuck what if he has a concussion!!_ Griffin thought  
      “Nick, it’s just a dream, you’ve got to wake up”  
_I have to wake him up!_  
      “Nick!”  
_Wake up!_  
      “NICK!”


	10. Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s not a dream! I know we can get out!” Nick retorted. “Why did you call me here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just watched the life changing car boys finale, and Get Out a second time, so was in the mood to write me another chapter. I hope you like it! This part turned out longer than I planned...

chapter 10  
  
Nick clutched at his chest as he crouched beneath a window. His eyes were wide and he was breathing heavily. He thought maybe he was far enough away that he couldn’t be heard, so he let his breaths come out, ragged and gasping. But not for long. He couldn’t let his guard down, couldn’t block his own ears with his own noise. He might miss something. He might be found. Luckily there were lots of places to hide. Everything was abandoned, it was like a desert filled with half sunken buildings and anonymous structures. Tall, dark cliffs surrounded it. Nick had been in a building not far from here, and had seen it through the broken glass of the window. Shifting and orange. He knew it, as if he’d seen it before somewhere, _in a dream?_ But he knew it, and it was looking for him. He couldn’t describe it, it was just a shifting ball of sharp polygons, endlessly changing. He couldn’t let it get him. It saw him through the window, and exploded outward, like Sauron’s eye, filling Nick’s vision. But luckily he had, had the guts to run, to turn away from it. He managed to skip down the stairs and out into the street. He had been running and hiding and terrified for so long. Always it was behind him, always at just the edges of his vision. When he got far enough away, sometimes he could hazard a glance around him. In this drab, apocalyptic world, the orange stood out like a speckle of blood against the dirt. But from a great enough distance, it wasn’t a shifting ball of color, it was collected together, like an optical illusion. It looked like a man. Nick sometimes could see it, frozen, just standing still, staring into the distance. It had no face. Nick found this to be worse.   
His only glimmer of hope was a far-away noise. Nick could have curled up and burst into tears of stress and exhaustion, but he could hear something. He knew it wasn’t the orange, it was light and pinged in his mind, like something he couldn’t remember. Every time he heard it, it filled him up and he would get up and run to it.   
“__”  
“..,,.”  
“nnng”  
He always felt that he was getting closer, he could almost make it out, was it a voice? But then he would be discovered, he would forget to be careful, and the call would slip from his mind as he ran and hid and hoped and waited for it to pass.   
“niii”  
“niiiihg”  
_please_  
“niiik”  
_Please_  
“nick”  
“Nick!”  
“NICK!”  
It was Griffin.   
Nick couldn’t help himself as a tear slid down his cheek. He could finally make out the noise, the voice – it was Griffin. He was here somehow, he had come to save him. Nick pushed himself quickly up to his feet, distracted by hope, and was immediately besieged with an explosion of orange all around him. He shielded his face with his arms, and ran the other way, eyes shut tight.  
But there it was again “NICK!”  
And Nick ran towards it.   
Past the abandoned roller coaster, the bank, the bridge.   
“Nick are you here!?”  
Nick followed the voice, whatever it said. Usually just his own name, sometimes “Nicholas” - unusual but welcome.   
Finally Nick was in an abandoned construction site. The building was made up of sheet metal and scaffolding, but Nick wormed his way inside. It was darker in the shade, and he hoped that the orange wouldn’t be able to find him here. The voice was so close, he knew it. Griffin was in this building. He had been hiding here, he must have known it was the best spot. He thought he saw a glimmer of orange outside, through one of the holes in the walls, but knew it couldn’t find him here.   
The building was half sunken into the sand, and he could see the lower levels were flooded with a murky, discolored water. Nick avoided it.  
“Griffin!” He called, carelessly, forgetting that someone might hear him. He hadn’t used his voice in so long, it felt rough and broken to yell. He cupped his hands around his mouth, they were so filthy.   
“Nick!” came the reply “Come on Nick!”  
“I’m here Griffin!”  
  
_“mm here…”_ came the murmured reply.  
Griffin was staring at Nick, his hands gripping the edge of the bed, he was on his knees. His phone still illuminated the room, and Nick’s face. Griffin wasn’t blinking. Finally after ages of calling and calling, shaking and doing everything he could to wake Nick up, he seemed to be stirring.  
“Nick! Come on, it’s me, it’s Griffin” he said softly  
“grrfn” Nick mumbled. His eyes opened just a sliver, his face was still bruised from whatever had happened at the accident – a thought which still horrified Griffin.   
“grrifn I found u” Nick’s eyes crinkled, and the tiny whisper of a smile graced his face  
“Yeah buddy, stay with me” Griffin said, relieved.   
“How did u fnd thissplace?” Nick slurred dreamily  
“You left the door open, bud” Griffin smiled.   
  
“How long have you been hiding” Nick buzzed away, the weight lifted off his shoulders at the sight of Griffin. He had finally found him up a few levels, sitting near the sheet-metal wall, keeping an eye outside. He must have been yelling through the cracks, leading him here. He had lit up when he saw Nick, and Nick felt disheveled and grimy compared to Griffin’s cleanliness.   
But Griffin looked confused.  
  
“Nick? Are you with me?” Griffin said. Nick was smiling vaguely and talking to him but it was like he was somewhere else.   
“whatr u taking about?”  
  
“You were calling me here, now we can hide!” Nick explained  
“Hide? Hide from what?” Griffin responded, he looked confused.   
“From the orange! From it!” Nick said, exasperated, why was Griffin acting so strangely?   
“The orange? Nick, come back to me, I don’t understand” Griffin responded, he was agitated, and looking at Nick strangely.  
  
“But im here” he mumbled, his eyes fluttering.  
Griffin didn’t know what to do. Nick was seeing something else.   
“Nick it’s a dream! Wake up!”  
  
“It’s not a dream! I know we can get out!” Nick retorted. “Why did you call me here?”  
There was something passing by outside. Nick stepped back.  
  
Griffin could barely make out Nick’s muttered words  
  
Griffin reached towards Nick. Nick suddenly realized, it was a trap. Something flickered at the edges of his vision. He stepped back. He felt betrayed as he looked into Griffin’s eyes, he looked so concerned.  
“Fuck, Griffin!” He said.  
There was a storm building outside. Nick stepped back. Griffin’s mouth opened but Nick couldn’t understand anything he was saying. He stepped back.  
  
“Nick! Don’t go! Come back to me!” Griffin pleaded, Nick’s reaching hand falling limp  
  
Griffin was frozen in place, Nick was on the edge of the collapsed floor of the level, with nothing but a straight drop behind him. Orange and shapes and colors built up all around the building, filling every gap, every window. There was nothing outside but orange, trying to get in. It had found him. His eyes rolled all around, in a panic.  
Griffin’s face began to change and melt. Nick’s hands started to shake. Griffin’s face transformed and distorted until there was nothing left, just a featureless body, with no face. The orange outside started to bleed into it until it was completely unrecognizable as Griffin, and was only _It._  
Nick didn’t have time to step back. With a sharp breath in, the orange crashed into him, coming through every gap in the sheet metal straight into Nick. Its head was inside his head, its body inside his body, its arms inside his arms. He gasped and felt the shocking sensation run through him, like being electrocuted. He was falling, falling down and down, through the shaft of the abandoned building. Down to the lower levels, the sunken walls, the depth of murky, black water. Him combined with it.   
  
“ _Nick!”_ Griffin shook Nick’s shoulders. He didn’t know what else to do, as Nick’s face was distorted with a series of petrified, warped expressions. His eyes were barely open now, but for a moment he had stared outright at Griffin, as if he were some sort of horrifying monster.   
  
As they crashed into the water below, Nick felt himself separate from reality. He could see the world above him, he could see _It_ and him on top of the surface. But Nick just sank deeper and deeper into the water. The black water. His body above was limp, like a ragdoll. He watched himself from third person. It was as if he had been blown out of his own body. As he sank deeper and deeper, the surface got smaller and further away. He saw the orange colors surrounding him above.   
Then he watched as little blue lights appeared all over his body. Every point of every limb, every joint of every finger, even the hairs on his head, all covered in little blue lights  
“Niiick!” He heard, echoing all around him. There were shapes in the water, there were currents, but Nick couldn’t take his eyes off his body above. He couldn’t take his eyes off the little blue lights. Something was moving them around, and his body was moving with them.   
  
_Nick sat up in bed._


	11. I would hurt a fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick just sat there, enveloped in the bright blue light. It seemed to alight on every angle of his body. Illuminating the room  
>  Then he began to stand up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little blue dots anyone? This was gonna be a longer chapter but I gotta go to school and I kinda wanna post it so here you go. It ends at a good place tho, I just don't want to cut it up thaaat much

Chapter 11  
  
  
      “Nick!” Griffin cried. The last thing he had seen was Nick’s face contort into a look of agony, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, before he fell back down on his bed, limp. No matter what Griffin did, he wouldn’t wake up. Griffin had begun to desperately look around the room, but he remembered the blob and the power and the wind and gravity and didn’t know what to do.   
      Then Nick sat up.   
      “Nick?” Griffin said. The movement was abrupt, and it surprised Griffin.   
      Griffin leaned forward towards Nick. His hair was still matted and flopped in front of his face, but Griffin thought his eyes were open.  
      “Nick are you alright?” he said softly. He put his hand on Nick’s arm, looking uneasily up at his face.  Nick raised his left arm up into the air, and moved it over, almost dropping his hand onto Griffin’s.   
      “Yeah it’s me, bud” Griffin smiled, reassured by the clumsy touch.   
      Then Nick sharply jerked away and Griffin’s hand pulled back. Griffin didn’t know what he’d done wrong, unless Nick was injured there. He leaned in slowly to say something when Nick moved again.  
      He shook his head. Back and forth, back and forth. Griffin leaned away. Nick’s eyes were open, but too covered by his long bangs for Griffin to really look at.   
      Then he lifted his right arm. Just lifted it straight up in the air, lead with the wrist. After a few seconds he dropped it back down onto the bed beside him.   
      Then he lifted his left arm in the same way, letting it hang in the air briefly before falling down. Griffin just watched in silence. The blueish light from his phone making the whole scene very eerie.   
      Nick lifted his right leg, just from the knee, pulling it up in front of him. Then he lifted his foot into the air, awkwardly balancing on the mattress before putting it gently back down. He did the same with the left leg. It looked to Griffin as if he had never used his limbs before, and was trying them out, one by one. Griffin could see Nick’s eyes when he moved, they were half open, but stared blankly forwards, unseeing. Griffin swallowed dryly.   
      “Nicholas” he said softly. Nothing.   
_Is he…sleepwalking?_ Griffin wondered. _  
_       Nick just sat there, enveloped in the bright blue light. It seemed to alight on every angle of his body. Illuminating the room  
      Then he began to stand up.   
  
  
  
      Nick was sinking slowly, drifting in the endless black expanse. His thoughts began to escape him, as if they were bleeding out and into the dark water, floating further and further away. He looked around, but never directly beneath him. He felt that if he did, he would lose it all. A distant light passed him on the right periodically. Sometimes bright beams and pillars of light would grow up around him, but he always easily passed through. _Don’t look behind you_ was the familiar refrain.   
He could still see the surface, miles above him. Up there, in the abandoned building.   
      He could see himself. And _It._ Nick could see his body was covered from head to toe with odd little blue dots. And the orange, _It_ was pulling at them, as if they were attached to strings. He watched himself be moved around like a rag-doll. First his right arm, then his left, then his right leg, then his left. He watched the orange _It_ control him from far below, watching his body being methodically sat up, and raised to standing.   
  
  
  
      Nick stood up on the bed, wobbling on the shifting mattress. Griffin got up to his knees, spotting his unconscious friend.   
  
  
  
      Nick could see something else up there. Something familiar. A face. He could see his body, and the orange, busted up, half person faceless _It_ controlling him, and then another figure, in the orange, knocked back and forth by the shooting spikes and flickering shapes. Watching his body with a look of distress was Griffin. And Nick could see, from his angle far below it all, something behind Griffin. Something huge and rolling and black. He suddenly had a reason. He wanted to call out to Griffin but his mind was too far from his mouth. He realized that Griffin had been trapped too.   
      Nick suddenly twisted in the thick, black water. No longer satisfied to drift away into the depths, he struggled in the darkness. He wanted to escape. He didn’t want to die. He realized he was terrified. He reached his arms up and started to pull. Everything that had happened to him. He wanted to get out. He started to kick.  
Started to swim.   
  
  
  
      Griffin realized that his phone had died.   
He glanced at it and looked back to Nick. All of the blue light that illuminated the room was coming from him. And now that he could see it, he could make out the sources of the light. Thousands of little blue dots were lit up all across Nick. Griffin could make them out if he really squinted hard and looked. And every time Nick moved, he thought he could almost see thin, spiderweb-y trails of light fading away from Nick into the corners of the room.  Griffin felt fear creep over him again.   
      Nick turned towards him. His eyes were glassed over, and he lurched around on the bed. Griffin stepped back. He wanted to step forwards, to shake Nick out of _it_ but he just didn’t know what was going on.   
  
  
  
      Nick pulled as hard as he could, tearing through the black expanse, hoping the world above would get bigger, would get closer.   
  
  
  
      Nick swiveled his head around the room. Griffin followed with his eyes.   
  
  
  
      The world above was slowly expanding, Nick could see more and more of the world, the sand, the apocalyptic wasteland.

  
  
      Nick’s arm reached out for something on the nightstand, his fingers wrapped awkwardly, one by one, around a heavy metal lamp. Griffin stepped back.  
  
  
  
      Nick could feel the currents and lights and blackness all around him, his bangs flew backwards, he pushed himself forward with everything that he could. He could see Griffin, see the busted orange, see his own body, moving and reaching against his will. It was so clear.   
  
  
  
      Nick pulled the lamp up, his arm dropping significantly, as if unprepared for the weight. Griffin looked up at him,  
      “Nick, Fuck!” He breathed.   
  
  
  
      Nick pushed back into reality. He reached the surface, crashing into the image above. He crashed into himself and felt his arm fall back into his arm and his body back into his body and his head into his head and even his bangs back into the sweep of his hair. The sudden force freed him from the blue strings and the orange all around and he burst forward and the dry, apocalyptic world split open around him and he was in a dark room, except it was bright around him and he was so high up and Griffin was standing below in front of him, looking concerned and confused and real and Nick felt something release from his hand as he fell forward and onto Griffin, wrapping his arms tightly around the other man’s body.  
      He was awake he was awake and Fuck, fuck Griffin was here and everything was so wrong and there was too much to say and Nick didn’t know what to do and the terror flowed back in him as he realized this.   
      Griffin stumbled back with the sudden weight of Nick falling onto him.  
      “Griffin! Griffin!” Nick shouted, his voice pleading and broken. “Don’t let go of me! Please!!” holding onto Griffin tighter than anything ever, burying his head in Griffin’s shoulder.  
      And Griffin shook out of his shock, pulled his arms around Nick and held on.   



	12. I had a dream I died!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Griffin could see the orange now, completely. All around Nick, filling the room. Nick was held up from behind, hanging in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one gets pretty crazy. Sorry boys. But I really enjoyed writing it so I hope it's good!

Chapter 12  
  
  
  
      Nick and Griffin held onto each other tighter than either had ever held onto anything. Nick’s face was pressed into Griffin’s shoulder, and Griffin had his eyes shut tightly. Alone together in the dark room.  
      But then Griffin felt a little tug. And something bright grew behind his eyelids.  
      So he opened his eyes.  
      Nick felt a little tug as well. As if someone had pulled on the back of his shirt.   
      Then he felt it again, but stronger.   
      Griffin stared past Nick, as the room was slowly illuminated again with blue light.   
      Nick felt something trying to pry him and Griffin apart. So he squeezed his arms around Griffin even tighter, and he heard Griffin make a muffled grunt.  
      But it wasn’t enough.   
      Nick’s feet gently lifted off the ground.   
      Griffin felt this and held onto Nick even tighter, but Nick’s feet were pulled out from under him.   
      “nicknicknicknick!” Griffin said, trying desperately not to let Nick go.   
      Nick could feel something pulling him back and up, pulling stronger and stronger, till he was completely off the ground, held in place only by Griffin.   
      Then their arms slipped.   
      “Griffin!!” Nick yelled, but as they slipped apart Griffin firmly grabbed Nick’s forearms.   
      Nick’s eyes were wide open, and he stared into Griffin’s face, which looked incredibly determined and terrified all at once. His appearance a bit disheveled from having Nick’s grime shoved into him.   
_Don’t look behind you…_ Nick thought.   
      “Nick! Look at me!” Griffin yelled, trying to force some sort of reassuring smile onto his face. “I’ve got you, I won’t let you go!”  
      But Nick couldn’t stop himself and turned his head. He felt like he was moving in slo-motion, like that lost week when everything had seemed great and fuzzy and warm, before it had all truly gone to shit. He could see his tangled bangs float through the air as his head turned around, Griffin silently yelling at him from the other side.   
      He could see what was pulling him, bright and flickering and orange, coming through the wall and his dreams and his nightmares and it was so, so much stronger than Griffin was.  
      And he saw it reach for the little blue dots and pull back.  
      And Nick tried to turn his head back to Griffin in time, but his arms were pulled out of Griffin’s hands, and he was yanked backwards, too fast and too strong over too short a distance.  
   
_Ah!_   
      Griffin gasped as Nick, after one last look of terror, was pulled from Griffin’s hands. He shot back through the air, as if pulled by unseen forces, and was slammed, back first, into the wall on the other side of the room. Griffin could see his head whiplash back and bang into the wall, and Nick fell limply down like a sack of bricks, unconscious again.  
      “No Nick!!”  
_Then Nick stood up._  
  
  
  
      “Fuck! No!!” Nick thought. Once again he was falling away from himself. But this time he wasn’t in a mixed-up dream, now he could see just what was happening as he was wrenched away from it all. It was as if there was no forth wall to the room. He could see himself crumpled on the floor unconscious, and he could see Griffin from below, could see his determination turn to fury and then just as quickly to panic as Nick’s body was stood up by _It_. Nick pulled against the black endless expanse that he was floating in, but he was enveloped in the darkness.  
  
  
  
      Griffin could tell that it wasn’t Nick. _God_ though he was worried for Nick. _How many times has he been hurt? How many times has he been unconscious?_ _Fuck fuck fuck, fuck me!_  
      Nick’s eyes fluttered open, but he wasn’t there. Just the blue light.   
      He stood up clumsily and turned towards Griffin.   
      Griffin stepped back.  
_I don’t know what to do, Nick!_ He thought.   
      Nick reached for the lamp that had been dropped.   
      As he touched it, it reacted strangely. Griffin’s eyes locked onto it.   
_My tv…_ the image of the cars in the crash flashed into his mind  
      The lamp began to shake and quiver. Churning and shifting in on itself. Little spikes and jabs started pulling out of it, flickering. Like the cars in the crash and Griffin’s tv and the walls of Nick’s house. More and more and more until it had lost all recognizable lamp-form and remained only a revolving ball of color and shapes.   
      Griffin stepped back.   
      Even the ends of Nick’s fingers holding tightly onto it experienced the phenomenon, twisting subtly. It made Griffin sick.  
      Nick stepped forward.  
      Whatever was controlling him seemed to be getting better and better at it. Nick lifted his foot and stepped onto the bed to get closer to Griffin, and as he touched it, it began to ripple outwards. Like paint on a speaker, the bed too, began to change, becoming sharp and jagged and wrong. Nick walked across the bed, and everything he touched changed. Griffin recoiled.  
_If it touches me will I change too?_ He thought, and answered himself.   
_yes_  
  
  
      As if Nick could hear Griffin’s thoughts he whispered _Griffin please run away…_  
  
  
      Griffin swallowed.   
      And ran.  
  
      He heard something crash behind him, _the lamp_. He twisted his head around to glance behind him, and saw Nick, lurching forward, some new monstrosity in his hand, Griffin had no idea what it used to be. _But_ for a split second, as he turned, he saw something else.   
Something behind Nick.  
      Something huge and malevolent and horrifying, a kaleidoscope of orange. Surrounding Nick, pushing him forward, pulling at his splintering fingers.   
      Griffin identified it from one of Nick’s sleepy-murmurs  
_The Orange  
      It  
_  
      Griffin ran down the hallway, ducking into different rooms and closets, trying to do anything to hide or escape. But Nick always came after him, fast for all of his drunken movements. Griffin had been trapped once or twice, behind shifting walls and black rooms, but had so far survived.    
Every now and then, if he looked, he could catch a glimpse of _The Orange_ , swelling and manipulating Nick into chasing him. He had no idea if Nick was unconscious, or was being held captive inside his head, unable to talk or move.   
      Griffin hid behind a wall, trying to catch his breath. He was in a bathroom, and the door was closed. Nick’s house had changed so much there seemed to be whole new hallways and wings and rooms. It was so dark that Griffin could feel himself getting more and more turned around. But there was no escape, every window and doorway was blocked by the blob. And he had no warning when Nick might suddenly pull on the door and destroy it. Once or twice Griffin had been caught and brushed by Nick’s hands or arm, and he shuddered at the sensation. The feeling of changing, like being electrocuted, it locked up every joint and Griffin could feel a ripple inside of him. He heard the sound of padding footsteps from the hall and held his breath.  
  
  
      Nick tried to get back up to himself, but the world above seemed soft, as if it was melting. He was so far away now. He could see the world through his eyes, but it was just a blur of darkness and shapes. He started to relax into the water, sinking.   
      Then:  
_“___”  
      “…,,”  
      “nnnn!”  
_      It was the sound from his dream  
  
  
  
      Griffin yelped as the door exploded into shapes beside him. Nick fell into the room, and suddenly Griffin’s vision was overcome with orange, it was all around him, huge and faceless. Nick swung his head around to turn to Griffin and the sight vanished. Griffin blinked twice, then ducked behind Nick to the open doorway. Luckily Nick had come far enough in that Griffin was able to get around him safely.  But not the orange. Griffin tripped over something invisible in the hall. A sharp flash of orange spikes tangled his legs and he fell. He felt the shiver go through him and spun around on the ground. He saw Nick in front of him, again surrounded by _It_ , like an angry god with a marionette.   
      “Fuck!”  
      “Nick!” Griffin yelled  
      The orange got closer, Nick was holding some sort of purple shifting object  
      “Niiick!!” Griffin cried in desperation, backed into the wall, one hand raised in front of him for some sort of feeble protection.   
      Nick’s eyes flickered, and when the orange advanced, he pulled himself back a step. Griffin locked eyes with him, and scrambled to his feet, running down the hall.   
_He’s still there, fuck he’s still there, fucking shit, thank you Nick!  
_       Griffin got to a set of stairs and tripped down them.   
  
  
  
      For a split second Nick had been back. The soft sound calling him like in his dream. It echoed through the water calling his name and he pulled himself up and into his own eyes. He saw Griffin on the ground before him, sweating and breathing heavily and screaming his name. And he had pulled back, he had resisted. He had wanted to say something, but his mouth wouldn’t respond. And Griffin had run away and he had been pushed back again by the orange, forcefully, like an intruder to his own body. And now he was back in the black space but this time he wouldn’t sink he wouldn’t forget he wouldn’t.  
  
  
  
      And Griffin made it downstairs.  He was sweating and breathing heavily. It was pitch black down here.   
_Maybe… maybe it won’t see me.._ he thought, as he limped over to a wall and slid down it. He remembered sitting in the same place with his broken phone just a short while ago, laughing over a Siri reminder, thinking it might make Nick smile.  
_Nicholas_ … Griffin wanted to think about what was going on, wanted to arrange and visualize the events that led up to this, but he couldn’t comprehend it.  It was too insane.   
      But he knew Nick was still there, they had met eyes, they must have, Nick pulled back, otherwise Griffin would have been….  
_something_ … he didn’t even know.   
      He didn’t want to leave Nick alone with _It_ but he was too scared. He was too scared to even go check upstairs. He wanted to just hide here forever.  
      He laughed nervously, just him and the dark and the blob.   
      The Blob.  
      Griffin brought his head up and looked toward where he thought the door was. He had forgotten about The Blob.   
_I wonder what it would be like—_  
      Griffin remembered his first encounter with it. He remembered the way it had rippled, the way it had drawn him in.   
_No, no, no, fuck I’ve got other things to think about!_   
      It worried him.   
_But… we’ll need to escape…_  
      Griffin propped himself up on one hand. He didn’t hear the creaking of the stairs.  
_Maybe I can just, push it… away…from the door…  
_       He wandered over to the doorway in the darkness, without being able to see, he instinctively knew where it was exposed.   
_It_ came down the stairs.   
      Griffin pressed his hands into the blob.   
_It_ reached the landing  
      And a warm wave came over Griffin. He couldn’t describe it, it just felt right. The way the blob moved and felt, it was so soft and welcoming and wonderful. He took the plunge and leant his face into it, feeling it on his cheek. He wanted to just embrace it.  
_Nick could see Griffin from his floating space behind it all._  
      Griffin’s mind went blank, he forgot everything, he forgot about Nick, he forgot about _It_ , he forgot about himself. He just wanted to walk into The Blob, he wanted to be swallowed by The Blob. He could see it ripple now, there was some sort of blue light illuminating it. Griffin smiled gently at the sight.   
_It_ moved closer to Griffin, casting light on the event. But _It_ didn’t attack him. The Orange itself seemed satisfied, or curious, Griffin was too far gone to bother with.   
_But Nick wasn’t satisfied._  
      With a last ditch effort, Nick wrenched himself up from the black water, using all of the energy he had. He flung himself back into himself, and once again felt his head fall back into his head, his body back into his body, his arms in his arms, his legs in his legs, and even his bangs back into the sweep of his matted, tangled hair. And he lunged forward, pulling free from the orange which burst, startled, around him, like two magnets repelling. He grabbed onto Griffin from behind and pulled him out of the blob, which had begun to creep around him, enveloping him, slowly, delicately, choking him.  
  
      Griffin gasped for air, like he had been holding his breath, and opened his eyes wide, memories and life and terror flowing back into his head. He turned around to Nick and Nick smiled widely.   
  
      Before being pulled away, again.

      the world slowed.  
  
      “Niiiiiiiiick!!” Griffin shouted, spinning around slowly.  
      Griffin could see the orange now, completely. All around Nick, filling the room. Nick was held up from behind, hanging in the air.   
      Everything moved in slow motion. Griffin reached out for Nick, but no matter how fast he thought, his arm wouldn’t move quickly enough. It took him ages to turn around. He could see Nick being yanked around. Slowly, ever so slowly he was pulled back and forth, back and forth through the air. Like seeing the frames of an animation played slowly, Griffin could see Nick stretch like a bouncing ball, every time he switched directions, it was unnatural. Griffin watched in horror, his face slowly stretching to a scream, as Nick began to change. Griffin had never seen the shifting shapes move slowly enough to see, but now he could see triangles and sharp jagged angles billow up from Nick’s limbs. Like the cars, like the tv, like Nick’s house and everything that The Orange touched, Nick was yanked so hard that he lost his shape and form and exploded.


	13. Crush-Love-Crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an interlude for Griffin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is like an interlude before the next action. I know it's short but this one got kind of emotional so I didn't want to just start the next section in this chapter too. I'm literally writing the next bit as we speak (or I guess read) so it should be up in a couple of hours

Chapter 13  
  
  
Griffin’s eyes were shut tight. He didn’t want to open them. He was scrunched up as small as he could get, his knees drawn up to his chin and his arms tightly wrapped around them. It had all happened so fast. One second the world was in slow motion and Nick fuck Nick had _saved him_ and then got pulled away again and Griffin couldn’t make any sounds no matter how hard he shouted and he just couldn’t turn around fast enough to _save Nick_.  
_Fuck!!!_ Griffin yelled in his head, gritting his teeth. __  
Fuck fuck fuck he murmured.  
And he opened his eyes.  
  
There was no world. There was just color.  
  
All he could see was blue. And grey, and pink, and red, and orange.  
Griffin had been boxed in by flickering walls. Sheets of color and texture.  
He lifted his head up and it bonked against the “ceiling”, and Griffin instinctively recoiled back down into his huddle. He had no idea what was going on and no idea of how to fix it.  
_Aaahhh haaa.. oh my god…_ he thought, bringing his hands up to his head.  
_Oh fuck me…_  
He knew he was surrounded on all sides, even though he didn’t want to touch the walls. But they were so close that he wasn’t even really sure which way gravity was pulling him. He had no clue which way was “up”. He was petrified.  
Griffin started to hyperventilate.  
_Calm the fuck down and breathe normally Griffin!!_ He thought furiously. He cupped his hands around his face.  
_Air pocket air pocket, just like in an avalanche, I think… just..just gotta find which way is the right way to the… surface…._  
He remembered the gravity outside the house and images of the colors slowly compressing in on him and crushing him flickered through his mind. He tried to block them out, but the harder he shut his eyes the more clearly they appeared. Griffin broke into a sweat. He saw the spikes of the orange breaking through the walls and stabbing him or turning him into a ball of revolting shapes or Nick’s twisted fingers finally catching him and controlling him and slamming him against the wall and and and and  
_and and and and_ he thought  
_ahhh haaa_ he breathed and brought his face out of his hands, he was having a panic attack. He couldn’t move and even if there was space he couldn’t move and there was nothing to even look at to distract himself. There was nothing else to even think about because _fuck what if this is it?!_    
  
  
  
  
  
_Is this it?_  
  
  
  
  
  
And the world flickered  
And Griffin saw trees  
  
for a second.  
  
and it was maybe enough.  
  
  
  
And he heard something echoing through the colors  
and it was quiet and sweet  
and it sounded like his name  
  
and it was maybe enough  
  
  
  
And he realized that he wasn’t as tightly boxed in as he thought. There was a gap, in the walls.  
  
And it was maybe big enough.  
  
  
  
So Griffin gathered himself up and tried to make his mind as blank as it could be. He tried to not care if this was the end or not. He tried to keep going until there was nowhere left to go. He had seen trees, for a second. They were still there... maybe...  
But it was enough.  
  
Griffin slowly unraveled himself and shuffled to where he thought there might be a space. He tentatively wrapped his fingers around the edge of one of the flickering walls-  
and pulled himself up.


	14. I have seen the future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time he made it to the greenspace. His eyes were wide with terror, but also with exhilaration. He felt the presence behind him cast a shadow across the whole land. Keys, keys, keys! he thought wildly. Dropping to his knees and plunging his hands into the undergrowth. The plant-life seemed flimsy or fake. Just a flat image. He felt like his hands reached below it, below the floor, and blindly he waved them around, conscious of the rapidly growing threat behind him. He was so close.  
> “Come on…come on!!” 
> 
> remember that bit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope everything is clear in this one. Although I guess it's supposed to be somewhat unclear, I guess just roll with it.
> 
> There's one part I recommend listening to clair de lune while reading but yanno that's just me.

Chapter 14  
  
  
Griffin navigated through the colorful, shifting, splintering maze he was stuck in. He was tired and alone and scared but not as scared anymore. Now that he knew that there were gaps in the walls, chinks in the armor he felt a dull sense of determination, or maybe more just a faint instinct to not stand still. Of course in the back of his mind was a dark cloud of hopelessness, of dying lost and lone and starving to death or dying of thirst in an absurd maze made of a house and a blob and a monster and his best friend. A dark cloud which threatened, if he thought about it too much, to once again destroy him with panic and terror. So he tried not to think about it too much!  
But at least he wasn’t being chased anymore. Chased by his best friend. Not really chased by _Nick_ , Griffin knew, but that knowledge wouldn’t change the images which ran through his head.

No now he was _in_ Nick. Griffin had seen early on, when he had first started clambering through the sharp angles, that he wasn’t in some random world made of colors and shapes. Like the lamp that “Nick” had destroyed, it had never transformed into _something else,_ it had just stretched and twisted until it was unrecognizable. And Griffin could see, there was some orange in this maze, a lot of it, which Griffin knew was _It_. But there was blue, and pink, and colors which matched what Nick had been wearing. And brown beams which shot through the space, twisting and shivering which Griffin knew were rough and brown like hair. There was blood spatter, pulled into red rivers, and a giant, stretched, warped, mouth.  
And there must have been eyes, somewhere, and hands and fingers. Maybe Griffin had already seen them but they had just been unrecognizable. Or Griffin had closed his eyes. His stomach churned if he thought about it too hard. He had seen bits of the house, pulled into distortion, sometimes recognizable, sometimes not.  
  
But there was one thing which lent him a little bit of hope.  
There had been black in the shapes. Slivers of it here and there. Griffin knew without any _close inspection_ that it was the blob, frozen and solid in time. The blob had been what had blocked the light, blocked the exits. It was what had truly sealed him and Nick in.  
_But_ there was light in these passages. There was air. If there were slivers of black, that meant that the blob had been exploded, along with the house, the orange.. along with Nick. If the blob had been exploded, then maybe it had been reformed. Maybe there were gaps in its armor too. Griffin just had to find them. He hoped. As long as he kept maneuvering towards the black, as long as the slivers kept growing around him.  
  
  
  
And they did. Griffin had no idea how long he’d been inside. The concept of time didn’t exist within it all. He’d seen one or two more flickers of trees, but they were gone so fast Griffin didn’t know if he was just imagining them. He tried to listen for the soft voice he had heard, urging it to speak, wondering if it was Nick, but it did not. He was alone. But the black swaths were getting bigger.  
  
And when Griffin finally crawled up into a new passage, always filled with the worry that this would be the dead-end, that this would be where he got stuck and trapped and slowly—  ‘ _shit! No don’t! Don’t think about that!’_ _He thought_ —He found himself completely surrounded by black. And Griffin knew he was inside the blob. And sparks went off inside his stomach. But he kept going. It was pitch black here anyways so he shut his eyes tightly and pulled his sleeves over his hands and kept going. He hummed to himself like Nick would and crawled and climbed and felt his way through to the next space and the next and the next—  
  
and it wasn’t long until he felt something cool on his face.  
_the.. wind?_ Griffin thought.  
He went faster, crawling along and along, feeling something cool and fresh on his face and maybe he smelled the outside but he wasn’t sure.  
And then the “world” disappeared beneath his hands and he fell.  
And hit gravel.    
  
And the wind smacked his glasses off his face.  
  
They slowly bounced along the path a few feet before landing back down onto the ground and staying fixed. Griffin blinked with shock as he finally opened his eyes again to the grey ground. His hands clutched grass and rocks. He could barely believe it, it was all still here. He pulled his head up and in a vague blur saw the yard and trees and sky. His heartbeat quickened.  
But the normalcy of the yard and the world outside only highlighted the bizarre remaining conditions. It was still storming, the high-speed wind blistering and cold. And the gravity was still impossibly strong. It was an effort for Griffin to raise his head. He blinked, his mouth open, and tried to turn his head to look behind him. The explosion was gone, the maze of angles he had navigated just wasn’t there. He could see the house, blurred and dark in the distance. But if he twisted himself more the vision flickered into that of a huge, billowing, shifting mass of shapes and colors. Then back again. Depending on what angle he looked at the house it was a building or an impossible collage. So he decided against looking behind himself. He couldn’t make out many details anyway, it was all so fuzzy… _oh yeah.._  
Griffin remembered his glasses.  
Luckily, the explosion had dropped him off some distance from the house, so the gravity, while still strong, wasn’t unbearable. Griffin could force himself up into sitting, and from there, push onto his feet. But first, he turned to where he thought his glasses had landed. He got up and began to toddle his way over to them, thrown some distance from his head. He was so tired, and the world kept swimming before his eyes. The wind was strong but didn’t hurt as much as before, everything seemed slow… Griffin’s eyes fluttered and he stumbled over something, but because of the pressure bearing down on him, the stumble was just enough to throw him off balance, and he fell back down to the ground, knocking his head against the pavement.  
  
  
  
After a few seconds Griffin opened his eyes, and reached his arm forward to his glasses. He felt his fingers close around them and he put them back on his face. Everything cleared around him and he could see. He took a few deep breaths, and pushed himself back up to his knees.  
_How am I going to fix this_ he thought.  
Griffin stood up, and with a sudden rush of determination spun around to look at the house. It remained a building until he was directly facing it, then it exploded in his vision into its true shapes. It was so close, Griffin felt that he could almost touch it, but he didn’t.  
_What can I do_  
Griffin started to feel irritated. He felt anger seep through his veins. Everything that had happened to him and everything that Nick had gone through, _fucking shit!_ He was so tired of it. He just wanted to destroy all of the stupid flashing shapes and colors and The Orange and The Blob and just fix everything!!  
_But HOW  
_ Griffin racked his brain. He thought about the original crash, the force of the two cars hitting had triggered them into exploding. But they had popped back into their original shapes. Why hadn’t the house? Why hadn’t Nick? But the more Griffin thought about the maze of angles in front of him the more he realised that they weren’t moving and shifting, they were still, static. Like they had settled.  
_Fuck that._ Griffin thought.  
He was going to shock them back into life.    
  
Griffin turned his back on the house and ran back to where he’d left his car. It was crumpled and broken under the weight of the gravity, but Griffin knew he could get it going. But when he pulled the handle it snapped back, locked. he suddenly realized he didn’t have the car keys.

_Keys… I need the keys…_

Griffin ran off through the yard, towards the trees, trying to find his keys. He searched frantically everywhere but couldn’t find them. He could feel the oppressive explosion still sitting stagnant behind him. _Don’t look behind you_ he remembered as if in a dream.  
  
Griffin ran through the trees but there were so few of them, fewer than he thought there would be. And the ground got lighter and lighter, Griffin noticed that it wasn’t nighttime. And it wasn’t long before everything started fading away and Griffin slowed to a walk and looked around himself.  
  
And he was alone, on a beige grid with bright blue sky above.  
_Fuck! I need the keys! I have to get out of here!_  
He could see in front of him was the greenspace. There were trees and grass, and in front of that he could see a white light  
… _the white light of_ _escape…_  
Griffin started to run. He ran faster than he’d ever run before. He had to get to the white light but, but  
he needed keys.

At least nothing was chasing him.  
  
Griffin was breathing heavily as he ran towards the greenspace. He had broken out into a sweat by the time he finally he got to the grass and the trees. But the closer he got the more they seemed like they weren’t real. Just fake images. He didn't have time for disbelief though. Something was blinding him, reflecting the light into his eyes. He shut his eyes tight and threw his hands down, shoving them into the ground. They seemed to go through the floor itself and he shuffled them around until his fingers clasped around something. He brought it up to his face and saw it was a blinding bright gold light. It was just what he had needed.  
  
He clutched it to his chest and kept going, now creeping through the forest. He could see the monster in front of him, miles high, ages wide, stretching past the corners of Griffin’s vision. He could see the medley of creatures, some parts of _It_ , some of The Blob, some of Nick, some of the house.  
And then he found his car, finally.  
  
Griffin strode up to it, placing his hand on the broad, yellow paint. It was a bit beaten up, but Griffin knew it could do it, now that he had his key.  
He let the doors fold open and climbed up the steps, settling into the driver’s seat. There was nothing in the rows of seats behind him. Just for fun he pressed the button to let the red stop sign swing out from the side. Griffin clicked on the radio, and a soft, gentle piano song came on.  It filled up the bus and went pouring right into Griffin’s ear. He could hear the delicate chords gradually turn into rolling arpeggios and great ascending melodies. It made him excited. Griffin felt rigid, he didn’t think he could remove his hands from the steering wheel even if someone tried to pull him out of the bus. Even if _It_ tried to pull at him like it had done to Nick.    
 _Nick bud!!_  Griffin thought, feeling the wave of fear and determination sweep over him again  _I’m going to kill this piece of shit monster!_ _I'm going to get you out of there!!  
_ The music made him want to drive, it made him want to crash, it made him want to explode into a million pieces.  
  
_Well good._ Griffin thought.  
  
and stepped on the ignition.


	15. The Avenue of Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The music wasn’t music anymore, it has lost all semblance of melody and notes and had become an indistinct wave of silver clashing chords and noise, as if Clair de Lune was being played by several people all at once. Griffin barely noticed and didn’t care, he felt it inside of him, pressing him forward, urging him to drive faster and faster and faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey we're almost there boys
> 
> At one point in this chapter I reccomend listening to several people play Clair de Lune all at once but you'll know when ;\

Chapter 15  
  
  
Griffin leaned forward as the ignition kicked on in the bus. He gripped the wheel so tightly his knuckles went white. Through the mirrors all around him he could see the greenspace flickering, almost two dimensional. The bus began to roll forward. All he could hear was the music from the radio, Clair de Lune reverberated on every piece of metal, on the frames of Griffin’s glasses, inside every angle of himself, filling his head. He had an insane urge to drive, to drive very fast.  
To crash.  
He glanced at the radio in a dazed sort of way, and considered clicking it off, but he felt like his hands were welded to the wheel. So instead he looked back out towards the white light of escape. He reacquainted himself with The Orange, the huge apocalyptic storm made up of _It_ and Nick.   
Griffin pressed his foot down harder on the ignition and the bus pulled away.   
  
It quickly gained speed in the barren landscape made of fake plants and trees and dirt. It was as if there was no friction to hold it back. Griffin felt like he was flying, as if the wheels were really inches off the ground. He stopped looking around him and concentrated on moving forward, on gaining speed. On gaining as much speed as he possibly could to crash into _It_ with as much force as the bus could handle. Griffin thought it could handle a lot. He imagined a wall of force coming with him, gathering around the sides of the bus and collecting, a wave of energy and wind and air unlike anything _It_ had ever seen. He had the golden key, he had his car, he could see the white light coming closer and he knew that if he could get to that he could do anything.   
The music wasn’t music anymore, it has lost all semblance of melody and notes and had become an indistinct wave of silver clashing chords and noise, as if Clair de Lune was being played by several people all at once. Griffin barely noticed and didn’t care, he felt it inside of him, pressing him forward, urging him to drive faster and faster and faster and ruin the front of his car and absolutely crush it into whatever came up in front of him and he could hear the crashing of metal and the sounds of twisting pipes and sparks and electricity and some new feeling rose up inside of him.  
And  
When the bus was moving at impossible speed, the tires overheating and the paint peeling and the glass cracking and Griffin, with his eyes staring intently wide open and his hands almost blistering from holding onto the wheel and his ears popping from the volume of the music, they flew into the bursting, brilliant white light.  
  
  
And Griffin woke up.  
  
  
Not in the front seat of a yellow school bus, but in the driver’s seat of his actual real own car, destroyed by wind, crushed by gravity and absolutely blistering at speed. Griffin gasped as he awoke, his head reeling from both his gravity induced fall minutes earlier while trying to retrieve his glasses, and the shock of being pulled out of a different reality. His eyes flew open but without his glasses Griffin could only see a blur. Just a split second of Nick’s yard whizzing past his window and the insane, impossible explosion of Nick’s house directly in front. The gravity was stronger with every yard they advanced, and Griffin felt himself hunch over as the roof of his car compressed and bent dangerously near. He could hear the metal popping and creaking. The break-neck speed of the car combined with the severe wind caused it to lift off the ground, and Griffin watched, unconsciously holding his breath as his car flew forward into the mass of _It_ and the house and The Blob and his best friend Nick and Griffin was crushed inside the metal and the color and light and wind and gravity and exploded.   
  
  
  
And opened his eyes.   
  
  
  
And the sky was so blue.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Griffin was floating, above the yard, above the house, above the road and the woods. It was like he was standing on the air. He could see everything below him, stretching out to the horizon. It was daytime, and the sky was so, so blue. Not a cloud in it, at least not above him. He looked down past his feet and saw Nick’s house, perfect and normal. There was no explosion, there were no irregular impossible spikes shooting out from the walls and the roof and the windows. The yard was still, no wind blew. No trees were dragged down by the gravity. Nothing moved. Everything Griffin was seeing was so clear that he realized he was wearing his glasses again. He was briefly panicked that he was back in another dream, although the fact alone that he was lucid negated the idea.   
  
  
Griffin noticed that down there, there was no blob and no _It_ but also no Nick, so he looked up.   
  
  
And there they were.

  
Griffin could see Nick, floating a distance away from him. He looked alright, but his head was lolled down to one side, and he wasn’t conscious.   
  
  
And if Griffin looked past Nick, further into the distance, he could see something orange. A man, made of crude, simple shapes and joints. He wasn’t moving either. He was faceless.   
_It_ Griffin thought curiously.  
  
  
And above them all, if over to one side somewhat, was The Blob. Griffin looked up at its oppressive shape. It hung in the air, huge and black. Even though it too had no recognizable face, Griffin shivered, it looked like it was calm and waiting for something.   
Griffin looked back down.  
  
  
It was as if everything had been reset. Like the world couldn’t handle the logic and physics breaking state of the place and had paused and reloaded. Griffin had his glasses again, Nick didn’t look too badly injured anymore, The Orange was frozen in maybe its original shape, and when Griffin looked behind himself he could even see his own car placed in the air, but it wasn’t crushed, _with him inside_ , it was normal and undamaged.   
_It must have been the crash_ … Griffin thought, looking back down below. _That must have been enough to…what? Overload the world?..._ It was like on his TV, the two cars exploded into color and then reformed themselves, and the same had happened now.   
  
Griffin sighed a shaky breath and looked back at his fellow figures in the sky. He appeared to be the only one or _thing_ conscious, and wondered if he could move. So he leaned forward, and felt himself slowly drift. Even though there was no wind, nothing, he could pull himself forward through the still air. It was like swimming.   
Cautious of the seemingly sleeping threats of _It_ and The Blob, Griffin kicked his legs and pulled himself over to Nick. He was unconscious, but was no longer covered in blood. He looked very still, no expressions of horror contorted his face like the last time Griffin had seen him asleep.  Griffin drifted into Nick, and wrapped his arms around him. Even though “Nick” wasn’t around to notice, Griffin squeezed him, pressing his nose into Nick’s soft hoodie.   
“C’mon buddy, let’s get you home.” He said gently. He could hear Nick quietly breathing above him.   
Griffin started to pull down. With his arms firmly around Nick, Griffin drifted and kicked and brought them down. Down past the tops of the trees and the sight of the horizon and the top of the house and finally, finally back down to the ground. _It_ and The Blob remained motionless above.   


They reached the ground, and remained there, despite there being absolutely no gravity. Griffin relaxed his hold on Nick, and just let him lie back. Then Griffin blinked.   
And the world un-paused.


	16. "Why Does Someone Have To Die?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The car filled with black and Nick and Griffin squeezed out of the car and into the abyss all around them. Nick opened his eyes. He couldn’t see anything around him, aside from a distant glowing light somewhere in the depths. As he tread water he looked down past his shoes, and saw Griffin’s car, headlights on, sinking deeper and deeper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOES anyone still read this? Whoooo knows. 
> 
> Anyway it's almost over!

Chapter 16  
  
  
Suddenly there was a breeze.   
Griffin blinked as he felt the air start to move around him again, the leaves rustled, the clouds moved. He felt himself - and Nick in his arms, settle, as if gravity (real, normal gravity) was gently switched back on. Nick was no longer completely still, but breathed lightly - asleep. Griffin looked down at his face, grateful for the peaceful reprieve.   
A swift rush of air sounded from behind them, and Griffin barely had time to register it and turn his head when it was followed by a loud crash. He felt Nick start beside him at the sound. Nick eyes flashed open and he lurched up, looking around wildly, in a panic.  
“Nick!” Griffin said, reaching for his shoulders to reassure him. “Don’t worry buddy! We’re fine, I’m fine – you’re fine.  You’re all good”  
“Griffin? But I-was- I…” Nick was completely bewildered. The last thing he’d seen was Griffin’s terrified face and then the whole house had blurred and warped and then it was just a static-y indescribable explosion of color and light. Somehow they were outside and he was himself again _or was he?_ And he couldn’t believe it.   
“It was just my car” Griffin said, with a nervous smile.   
 “Your car?...” Nick murmured back, looking uneasily into Griffin’s eyes.   
“Mmhm!” Griffin said excitedly.   
Griffin’s car had fallen back down. Just like how the gravity had taken hold of Nick and Griffin again when the world un-paused, the gravity had brought Griffin’s car back down to earth with a deafening crunch.   
_Fuck fuck thank Christ we were on the ground already!_ Griffin’s thoughts raced inside his head, imagining, of course, him and Nick falling from that height. But more importantly, Griffin knew that they and the car hadn’t been alone up there. That there were other… _things_ in the sky.  
And Griffin could already see the expanding shadow.  
“Nick can you stand?” Griffin said, glancing up, his voice rising ever so slightly.  
“Uh, Mmhm…I think so” Nick said.  
“Ok! Ok great! Well, let’s go!” Griffin said and he grabbed the confused Nick by his arms and pulled him up to his feet. “Go go go go go!” He shouted, looking up to the sky, pushing Nick along in front of him.  
They were falling. _The Blob_ was falling. It was just like in Nick’s yard, _so_ long ago - they had to get to shelter!   
“Griffin where are we going!” Nick said as he stumbled along with Griffin.  
“We gotta get to my car!”       
Nick stopped dead in his tracks, staring wide-eyed at the trashed vehicle, as if just the thought of being in a car horrified him. Then he looked down, suddenly distracted “Griffin? It’s getting darker…” he said, “really quickly…”  
Griffin knew the blob was gaining speed. He could see the dark shadow expanding out over the yard. He Grabbed Nick’s hand on the way by and pulled him out of his anxious musing, dragging him towards his car. Griffin could feel the waves of resistance from Nick but pulled him onwards until Griffin was wrenching open the car door and shoving Nick inside, before rushing around to the other side to get in himself.  He could feel the pressure of the blob, squishing out all the air above them. Griffin, in a sweat, shut the door violently behind him and locked the doors just as The Blob fell to earth and morphed around the car, filling every window with black. Nick and Griffin stared forward in silent shock as It crashed into them with such weight and force. It pushed the car down, and Griffin and Nick held onto anything they could as the car was crushed under the massive shape. The Blob fell like a huge black drop of ink falling to the ground, it splashed on the surface, and permeated deep, opening up into a chasm of opaque, blackness. The car was pushed far below the surface of the world, lost in the black ocean of The Blob, below.   
  
  
Griffin and Nick shouted with alarm and held onto the car and each other and shut their eyes tight as the car was shoved underneath the world and into the black space. It spun further and further down, but after a time began to slow, to drift, pulled gently by the current into the deepest parts. Nick and Griffin opened their eyes. Griffin was astounded and looked around in unease and awe. Still gripping the wheel as if that could possibly change their direction.   
Nick knew this place.   
His eyes opened wide and he breathed in sharply. This was where he’d been so often in dreams. This was where he’d fell when wrenched from his own body by _It_. This was the black other space, the space in which he’d watched his friend run away from him in terror and his world change into splintering shapes and his body move against his will and nightmares take over his life. Nick began to breathe quickly.   
“Fuck!” He shouted, banging his fists against his legs.   
Griffin was startled by Nick’s sudden outburst and turned to him.   
“No, no no…” Nick said, holding his head in his hands.   
Griffin leaned towards him “Ni—“  
“Don’t! Don’t. Please don’t. I—I knew it…” He said, his eyes wide.   
“Nick what are you talking about? Don’t do what?” Griffin said, his concern overshadowing his terror.   
“Shut up! I know it’s not you! Just Fuckin leave me alone” Nick shouted, covering his eyes with his fingers. Griffin raised his hand up, but didn’t know what to do with it.   
“It’s just a dream…” He heard Nick murmur. “I knew it, I knew it it’s just another dream. Just another fucking _awful_ dream”   
“Nick it’s not—“ Griffin put his hand on Nick’s arm but Nick jerked himself away.   
He was furious “Fuck! How long is this going to go on? I thought- I thought. Jesus all of this and for what? I really thought that it might be ok that time! It tricked me again! I—“ He turned to Griffin, tears in his eyes. “I can’t even tell when I’m awake anymore Griffin. I don’t know when I’m dreaming and when I’m not. It’s hilarious that I thought this might be real! How could this— _any of this_ be real! Fuck me, and you’re not even here” He said dejectedly.  
Griffin stared at Nick in shock. Nick looked down, lost in despair and loneliness.  
“Why’d _It_ have to pretend to be you? Again? Why me? Fuck Griffin what is this?” Nick said miserably.   
“Nick” Griffin said. He paused. Tentatively Griffin put his hand back on Nick’s arm. “Nick it _is_ me. It is.” He said gently. “I—I’m sorry it’s taken me so long… I should have got here sooner, I should have helped you, I should have stopped all this before it got this bad..” Griffin looked down, he didn’t know what to say.  
“Sure” Nick said. He looked out the window at the black drifting by the window. The car slowly descended, there was a light floating by somewhere in the distance.   
“Nick this isn’t a dream.” Griffin said. “I know, you know when you’re awake because you’re with me and you’re _there_. And—and this would be a lucid dream! That proves you know the difference!”  
Nick shifted in his seat.  
“Plus _I_ know the difference. C’mon Nick. You got exploded, or whatever, ahem, by _It._ But then we were in the yard! You woke up and I woke up and it was the real world. The real world is just a bit… uh… more fucking bonkers than we thought it was.”   
Nick chuckled ruefully. Griffin sat back in his driver’s seat and stared out the window into the darkness. A bright beam of light passed them by overhead and he followed it with his eyes.  
“We’re in a car Nick. MY car. And I know _me_ , fuck man YOU know me. _No one_ can play Griffin McElroy - _30 under 30 Media Luminary_ , better than I can!” Griffin looked over to Nick and smiled. Nick leaned back on his seat and looked over to Griffin. A soft light drifted by in the distance and illuminated the car.    
“Yeah.” Nick said. “Yeah, yeah you’re right” and he smiled.   
After a pause Griffin said “Ok so…” raising his eyebrows. “Nick how the fuck to we get out of this. I’m fuckin’ shaking man.” He grinned.   
Nick laughed, and two intersecting beams of colors floated by outside.   
“Uh, well.. In dreams I’ve never been in a car. And this piece of shit is heavy so—”  
“Hey my totally destroyed, garbage car isn’t a piece of shit!” Griffin frowned angrily.  
“and it’s just pulling us, uh, deeper down into the abyss.” Nick laughed and continued. “Usually when I’ve been in this place I just hold my breath and try to swim… back up?”  
“Alright man” Griffin said slowly. “Let’s go then.”  
Griffin and Nick looked at each other.  
and… looked at each other.  
And Griffin’s smile got more and more strained  
“FUCK man! What a day!” Griffin said  
“Mmhm!” Nick responded, nodding. Both trying to postpone the inevitable.  
“Well, uh, yeah I guess! Let’s do it Nick!” Griffin said at last, sighing dramatically.  
“3, 2, 1, blast-off!”  
And the boys took in a last gasp of air, shut their eyes tight - scrunching up their whole face, and rolled down their windows.  
  
The car filled with black and Nick and Griffin squeezed out of the car and into the abyss all around them. Nick opened his eyes. He couldn’t see anything around him, aside from a distant glowing light somewhere in the depths. As he tread water he looked down past his shoes, and saw Griffin’s car, headlights on, sinking deeper and deeper. He looked up suddenly, panicked that Griffin hadn’t gotten out, but he saw, just below him Griffin turning in circles. Probably worrying the same thing about him. Griffin’s eyes were wide and he was moving awkwardly in the water. First, Nick looked up and saw the surface, far, far above them. He’d never been down this far before. Then he swam down to Griffin. He got his attention, and pointed his finger up, in the right direction to go.   
Griffin’s face looked strange, as if he was trying not to throw up. Nick looked at him with a furrowed brow, but neither of them could talk with her breath held. Nick supposed that after all those times down here in his dreams he was just more used to it than Griffin was. He helpfully grabbed Griffin’s arm and began to pull upwards. After a moment, Griffin started to gently kick up after him.   
  
Just because Nick had been here a few times did not mean he liked it. And he knew from previous experience that the more time you spent, the further from reality you got, and the less you cared. He was terrified that his memories and thoughts would start to wander, to drift out of his head and into the blackness. And with Griffin down here with him there would be no-one to pull him out of it. Nick glanced down and saw Griffin awkwardly swimming up behind him, he was shaking, and so was Nick.   
  
Nick began to swim up faster. He could imagine every terrible scenario in the darkness. All of his fears which had been briefly talked out of him by Griffin in the car were coming back. He was terrified of being stuck down here, and knew that the only possible escape was at the surface. He pulled himself up with his arms and kicked harder. The blackness was rushing all around him and he knew if he didn’t get out soon he might get dragged down and down again and again and again and eventually he might lose the strength to pull himself back up. He might lose his mind again and not be able to find it. He might end up at the bottom and see whatever leviathans were the source of the distant lights.   
In his sudden panic Nick had forgotten to keep tabs on Griffin and make sure he was still coming up behind him. He could only think about the surface and getting out of the huge, endless, claustrophobic darkness. He was so, so close. He could see the surface now clearly, the blue sky, the edges of trees, clouds. The light shone down on his face. He swam stronger than he ever had before, his lungs bursting from holding his breath. He reached up and his fingers grazed the edge of the sky.  
Just a few. More. Strides.  
The sunlight flooded his eyes. He was back up, finally.  
  
  
And something grabbed his leg.   
  
  
Nick let go of his breath as he felt something clamp onto his ankle and pull back. His arms were still outstretched, he was so close!! His eyes were wide and looked around in terror. He tried to push up with his arms, all he had to do was get to the surface, just a few feet!  
Bubbles popped out of Nick’s mouth as he struggled against the pull. He gritted his teeth and kicked and jerked around in the water trying to free himself. _FUCK! Was it the blue dots, was it The Orange??_ Was it one of the huge monsters lurking in the deep that Nick had thought he’d imagined? He twisted in the water but the grip was relentless. Nick realized that he didn’t see Griffin anywhere.  
Had he not made it up? Fuck! _Did he lose him??  
_ Nick looked up to the sunlight, so close. He didn’t want to look behind him, he didn’t.  
But he tore his eyes away from the sky and looked down.   
  
  
  
“ _Nick_ ”  
It was the voice from his dreams.


	17. Then there were 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Nick where are you going, buddy?” Griffin said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well dudes its been a slice. This has been super duper fun to write, and for my first ever fanfiction I'm very happy with it! I'm glad people seemed into it. I know this chapter is a bit long. I was gonna split it, but I didn't want this fic to be a million chapters long so there ya go.
> 
> Thanks a bunch!

Chapter 17  
  
  
  
“Nick!”  
It was the voice from Nick’s dreams. The soft, bright voice that rescued him from the desert and pulled him out of the darkness and saved him so many times. Griffin’s voice, calling his name. But this time Griffin’s voice wasn’t disembodied, floating, echoing through the blackness, indistinct at first and always just out of reach. This time it was right there. This time it was bubbling up from right below him, coming straight out of Griffin’s mouth.  
“Niii-cho-las”  
As Nick looked below himself he stopped thrashing about in the water, frozen in shock.  
Griffin was the one holding onto Nick’s leg.  
It wasn’t The Orange or the blue dots or a deep-black monster. It was Griffin.  
And he was smiling.  
  
  
  
\- - - - -  
  
  
  
      After a last reassuring look, Griffin and Nick had both taken deep breaths and rolled down the windows of Griffin’s beat up car. Griffin shut his eyes tightly as he felt the black…water? Rush all around him. It didn’t feel like a liquid, it didn’t splash. It just…filled the car with black, completely. Then he felt for the open window and clumsily squeezed his way out. Momentarily he forgot about Nick, suddenly swimming. The blackness was cold and didn’t feel like much, it felt like air.  
After propelling himself forward a few strokes, Griffin opened his eyes. At first he wasn’t sure if his eyes were open, he could see nothing. Just pitch-black all around. He didn’t know any directions, didn’t know where he’d come from or where he was supposed to go. He spun himself around in circles before finally clamping eyes on the tail of his car, sinking rapidly into the depths, headlights pointlessly shining two yellow beams into the dark.  
He thought of Nick. Griffin’s eyes went wide at the thought that Nick might still be inside, he might be getting pulled deeper and deeper away and Griffin wouldn’t be able to save him from…  
from what?  
Griffin blinked in the darkness as he watched the headlights fade out of view.  
He knew vaguely about this place. Nick had been here before, he described it as dark and deep and separated from the real world.  
_But…but, how?_ Griffin thought, bewildered.   _We didn’t just drive into a hole or a black ocean…. No this was…_  
He remembered suddenly the shadow expanding all around them, the staggering rush to his car.  
_The Blob._    
Griffin realized. They weren’t inside a bottomless pit.  
They were  
He was  
inside The Blob.  
Griffin took his eyes off the car and looked at the blackness all around him, afraid. Now that he knew what it was he could feel it. He could feel it pressing on him from every side. It felt just like that time in the house, when he’d pressed his hands into it and watched it move…  
_Fuck!_ Griffin thought.  
It didn’t feel _bad._  
no, no! Ah! He thought.  
In fact it felt soft and light against his skin. It felt just like that time in the house when he’d pressed his face into it and felt it…  
_Shit!_ Griffin started to panic.   
The Blob pressed into him from all sides, it was under his glasses and in his eyes and ruffling his hair. He pushed himself away from it but it was everywhere, everywhere. It was tender and comforting and Griffin didn’t mind floating in it _too_ much.  
But he did _No no no no I have to get out of here!_  
But at least it was nice and pleasant while he was trapped.  
_At least…_  
It felt so nice  
_I… knew The Blob was good_ He thought.  
_no no no! F-f- fuck me, I can’t…_  
…I don’t want it to feel nice! Griffin thought in terror __  
But _But it does, it so, so does…_  
I’ve been so close to The Blob before and I resisted it! Griffin assured himself __  
Why did I resist it?  
In the house… I would have…  
Fucking Nick pulled me out!  
I love The Blob  
Thank Christ for Nick or, or I would be…  
Nick that fucking idiot! If it weren’t for him I could have been--  
Griffin felt a hand on his arm and shot his head up. Nick’s face was right in front of his own.  
Griffin could feel the weak breath he had stored in his lungs. It took everything he had just to keep his mouth shut and not let it out. He could feel himself convulsing, trying to keep it held in. He didn’t know what he thought anymore. He could feel his thoughts changing, invasive ideas kept springing into his head. He was horrified by and despised The Blob but he wanted it so badly. He needed Nick’s help but also hated Nick for pulling him out of The Blob when he had gotten so close inside the house. Griffin was trying to keep a hold on himself but he was getting more and more confused. He could see Nick’s face right in front of his own but barely registered when Nick pointed his finger up, jabbing the blob as if he didn’t know it was there. Nick had a strange expression, he looked concerned and confused, his brows furrowed.  
_Help me, help me… Nick…_  
Griffin shakily followed the direction of his finger with his eyes and saw a patch of blue, far, far away. Was it the surface? It seemed to stretch further the longer Griffin looked at it. He saw Nick turn and start to swim upwards.  
_I can’t…_  
Griffin didn’t want to be left alone, he didn’t think he’d make it up. Did he want to make it up? But he couldn’t call out to Nick or lose his breath.  
Luckily Nick reached down to him and grabbed his wrist, pulling gently up. It took Griffin a moment, but he started to kick up after him, towards the surface.  
  
  
  
But Nick swam too fast.  
  
  
  
      Griffin couldn’t keep up. Nick got further and further away, and Griffin’s limbs felt sluggish. The Blob was so thick he felt like he was trying to swim in molasses. Griffin half-heartedly pushed his way through but it was hard - and as Nick’s shape grew smaller in Griffin’s eyes he couldn’t remember exactly why he was swimming up anyway. Now the “invasive thoughts” were just a tiny voice in the back of Griffin’s head shouting _“Fucking Griffin get out of here!”_  
But the voice was too quiet.  
Griffin loved The Blob.  
  
  
  
Why would he want to leave it? __  
  
  
  
      With this realisation Griffin stopped swimming. He let himself drift, and enjoyed the soft cushion of The Blob all around him. He could see foggy lights in the distance, beams of color. He lazily thought about exploring the depths of the blackness. But he didn’t want to explore it alone.  
_Nick…_ Griffin remembered his friend. _Where was he?_  
Griffin imagined a blurry image of Nick’s face in his head and smiled - he didn’t have all of the details quite right but didn’t notice. When Griffin opened his eyes, he saw Nick far above him, swimming. __  
Griffin was confused. He didn’t understand where Nick was going, why he was leaving them. He had come here to save Nick, hadn’t he? Griffin’s memory was fuzzy. __  
So Griffin pushed himself up and started to swim again. But this time it was easy. The Blob carried Griffin up to Nick faster than Nick could ever have swam.  And when Griffin was close to the surface and saw Nick reaching for the bright, bright light above them he could barely suppress a giggle at his friend, flailing around in The Blob. So Griffin reached his hand up and grabbed Nick’s ankle.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
“Nick!” Griffin said, delighted at being reunited. Finally done thrashing about, Nick was staring down at him with a disturbed expression. Griffin thought it was cute how his long bangs swirled in the darkness. Nick was speechless.  
“Niii-cho-las“ Griffin prompted in a sing-song-y voice. He smiled up at Nick.  
Nick stared down in disbelief at Griffin. He had lost most of his breath with the shock of being pulled back, and now held onto what little he had left for dear life. He didn’t know what would happen if he breathed in the blackness. He gently tried pulled his leg back, but Griffin’s grip was very firm.  
“Nick where are you going, buddy?” Griffin said. There was no accusation in Griffin’s voice, just curiosity.  
Nick couldn’t handle this.  
A flash of irritation flickered over Griffin’s face at Nick’s silence, but then he softened as realization hit him.  
 “Oh Nick! Don’t you know? We’re not in just a “black abyss”, we’re in The Blob!” Griffin said, smiling happily.  
Nick’s eyes shot around himself with a newfound feeling of dread. Now it all fucking made sense. Nick remembered Griffin’s interactions with The Blob inside the house. How it had attracted him and then pulled him into it, trying to consume him. Even _It_ had seen how easily Griffin had been subdued.  
_Fucking fuck shit!_ Nick swore internally - when Griffin realized this was The Blob it must have overwhelmed him.  
_Fuck Griffin! You couldn’t have put up more of a fight?!_ He thought.  
Nick was running out of air. He needed to get up to the surface or he would open his mouth. He glanced down at Griffin’s face then back up to the bright blue sky. Tentatively Nick stretched his arms out, trying to edge his way up.  
But he felt another hand grab his ankle and jerk him strongly back down.  
“Nick are you trying to leave?” Griffin asked, both hands wrapped around Nick’s leg. “Nich-o-las The Blob is _good_. It’s great! I want you to stay down here with us” Griffin said. His cheery demeanor was at odds with the threatening grip he had on Nick’s leg.  
Nick shook his head violently. He frantically pointed up.  
Griffin frowned and furrowed his brow. He pulled Nick further in. “Fuck man, don’t jab us like that.”  
Nick didn’t know what to do, he just wanted out, he just wanted to escape this horrible nightmare. He didn’t even care if it was really Griffin or just another illusion, he just wanted to wake up. Maybe Griffin had sunk in the car, maybe Griffin had never been here, maybe maybe maybe.  
“Nick?” Griffin and The Blob said.  
The light from above illuminated Griffin’s face and Nick thought it looked off. Griffin seemed pale. Every emotion seemed strained. He looked like he was almost shaking. Nick realised that Griffin wasn’t holding his breath. That’s how he was talking and talking and talking.  
But that meant The Blob was inside of him.  
It was like in the house.  
That meant the Blob was slowly, strangling Griffin.  
That meant that Griffin was drowning.  
If he didn’t get out, he’d die.  
Nick let go of his breath.  
  
  
  
“Griffin!” Nick shouted through the darkness. As he finally ran out of air his mouth burst open, his lungs filling with black. He grimaced at the feeling. It didn’t feel _bad_ …  
“Griffin you have to let go! We have to get out!” Nick shouted.  
Griffin seemed taken aback, but also pleased that Nick had started talking.  
“Niiick” he whined “Don’t be so lame, c’mon!”  
Nick saw Griffin shiver and squint up at him.  
“Please Griffin! Please let go!” Nick said, gagging every few moments with the strange feeling.  
“No Nick I want to stay down here. The Blob wants us to—“  
“Griffin, Griff! It doesn’t! It doesn’t it doesn’t.. unless we get back up to the real world we’ll—“  
Griffin was exceedingly pale, every moment his vision got blurrier. He felt The Blob constrict tighter around him and he in turn squeezed his fingers harder around Nick’s leg. He couldn’t think very well anymore but felt anger push into his head from the blackness outside. The Blob helpfully pulled up memories and fears to help him form the sentences.  
“Nicholas there is nothing up there!” He yelled. “You’re asleep!”  
Nick flinched  
“This is just another nightmare. No one is coming to save you and there is no “real world”. It’s all fake. You’ve dreamed all this. I never came to save you! Just fucking stop fooling yourself!” Griffin shouted.  
Nick felt himself drift. Hopelessness started to creep back into his mind. The blackness was everywhere and no matter how close he got to the surface it was never enough. Griffin was right, no matter how many times he “got out” he always found himself right back here…  
but, but  
_“nick…”_  
  
  
Griffin found himself for a moment  
  
  
_“help…”_  
  
  
It was the soft, gentle voice from Nick’s dreams.  
  
  
Nick hesitantly looked down, Griffin was looking up at him, in a moment of clarity. He was white as a sheet and his eyes were half closed. He looked sick. He looked helpless. Nick felt his fingers loosen around his ankle.  
“Griffin…”  
Then Griffin squinted and gripped Nick’s leg, his face turning hard again. Nick could almost see The Blob wrap itself tightly around him. Drawing the last true thoughts out of his head, to be lost forever in the abyss.    
_“We need you to…”_ He started. But he was weak and although his grip was strong he held Nick’s ankle now more to keep himself from sinking than to keep Nick from swimming up. Nick stared intently down into Griffin’s pale face as Griffin made a sound like he was trying to catch his breath, even though there was no breath to catch in the blackness.  
Then Griffin let go.  
  
  
  
      Griffin had distracted Nick from his existential fears. Now all Nick could think about was Griffin, as he fell unconscious and started to slowly sink. His cold fingers slid away from around Nick’s leg. Griffin’s eyes were closed and his mouth hung slightly open as he drifted down into the blackness. The Blob had run out of time to manipulate and strangle Griffin and now left him to die.  
But Nick still had some life left in him. And Nick hated The Blob.  
Fuckin fed up of everything and everyone Nick hated The Blob and The Orange and Cars and Nightmares and houses and streets and The Blob and The Orange _and_ _The Blob_. And unlike his fucking dumb idiot of a friend nothing could ever convince him otherwise. So Nick pushed out all of the blackness from inside him, took one last glance at Griffin and pulled himself up the last few feet to the real world.  
His head broke the surface of the black and he felt cool air and sunlight and life hit his face. But Nick only allowed himself one brief glimpse at the real world as he sucked in the biggest gulp of true, clear air he could, and plunged back down below.  
  
      Nick swam straight down after Griffin. He was sinking fast, like the car had done, straight down into the abyss. Nick found it was easy _to_ _descend_ into The Blob and kicked down, like he was in the deep end of a pool. He saw Griffin below him, his deathly pale skin translucent white against the black as he drifted. Nick didn’t know how much time he had. But Nick swam faster than Griffin sank and finally reached him. He wrapped his arms around Griffin’s body and held him tightly, like Griffin had done for him when The Orange had pulled _him_ away. Then he began to push up. It was hard.  
It was difficult enough pulling _himself_ up to the surface every time he was trapped below. It was another thing to drag Griffin up with him. Griffin who was dead weight. Nick only had so much air, and he could feel his heart beat against his chest as he swam up with all of his might. But it was a long way to the surface.  
  
      Nick kept his eyes focused on the patch of blue sky above as it slowly got bigger. He could feel exhaustion creeping over him but tried to ignore it. He could feel Griffin’s face growing colder against his neck but concentrated on just pushing upwards, just watching the blue patch expand.  
He could feel…  
He could feel something rippling behind him.  
  
      Nick didn’t know what to do, he didn’t stop pulling up, but he hazarded a glance below him. Something was there, in the depths. He and Griffin had both seen the distant lights in the black – endless beams or a soft, white glow. Nick had imagined impossible creatures and sights. Neither of them had been deep enough to find out.  
But now something was coming up. Quickly.  
  
      Nick tightened his grip around Griffin and furiously moved upwards. Every so often he checked beneath him. Whatever the thing was it was shapeless, and jagged, and faceless. It grew and shrank in size inconsistently and exploded up through the blackness beneath them. Nick recognized it.  
He decided not to look behind himself anymore.  
  
The blue patch was getting bigger. It was the size of a window.  
_Come on!_  
The size of a room  
_fuck!_  
The size of a house  
_stay alive Griffin!_  
a lake  
a city  
a world  
  
      Nick and Griffin burst out of The Blackness, The Darkness, The Blob. They exploded out into the real world just as _It_ , The Orange, caught up to them and furiously pounded against the surface of The Abyss. Billowing out along the edge – trapped like Griffin and Nick had been, shifting and terrible and forever imprisoned inside the jellied walls of The Blob.  
  
      Nick was on his hands and knees on the grassy lawn of his house. There was nothing below him except earth. The darkness was gone, they were safe. His breath had been pushed out as they broke through and now he gulped in air. He felt like a castaway lost at sea finally back on land. There was dirt and rocks and grass and bugs and life.  
Nick looked around himself and saw Griffin, lying unconscious on the ground near him.  
  
      Unsure of his feet Nick crawled over to him. All the color was drained from Griffin’s face, and he was covered in a cold sweat. He wasn’t breathing. Nick pushed down on Griffin’s stomach, like a cartoon character would do – as if a little geyser of water would shoot out of Griffin’s mouth. But The Blob was gone, so too was the darkness. There was nothing to come out.  
Nick began to push down rhythmically on Griffin’s chest. He tried to recollect all of the dumb CPR training he’d done in gym class in high school, never thinking that he might actually need it. He kept going, performing the CPR intently, uncertain that it would work, trying for the moment to ignore the supernatural circumstances surrounding…everything. Until finally, _finally,_ Griffin’s eyes flew open and he gasped, jerking up into a fit of coughing and breathing.  
Nick collapsed onto him in relief.  
  
  
  
“Aaaaah, haa, ha, oh, fuck” Griffin said breathlessly as he relaxed, flopping back down onto the ground, breathing heavily.  
“Dude….” Nick mumbled, face down.  
“I… I don’t even” Griffin said, raising a hand to his forehead. He could feel the breeze and see the tips of trees on the edges of his vision. A bird flew overhead.  
“Is it over?” He said.  
Nick didn’t say anything. He was overcome with exhaustion.  
“Nick, Nick, buddy you alright?” Griffin said weakly, nudging Nick, slumped on top of him. After no response Griffin grumbled “Dude get off you’re heeeavy”  
Nick rolled off of Griffin and lay on his back beside him, staring up at the sky. For a while neither of them spoke. They just lay there and absorbed the morning sky. How perfect it was. They felt like they had just been freed from captivity, like two prisoners finally seeing daylight after decades of dungeons and chains. They never thought that breathing could be so amazing. They were both shaking, the intense feelings of terror subsiding, replaced with disbelief and shock. Nick was hungry. Griffin just wanted a giant glass of water. Neither wanted to look around them just yet, it would make everything too real. Nick didn’t know what his house would look like and Griffin didn’t want to think about his car or his tv or his phone. They both pretended they were in a little pocket dimension, just each other and the breeze softly blowing their hair and the clouds.  
  
  
  
“Nick” Griffin said “It’s over”  
Nick swallowed “yeah I think so”  
Griffin grabbed Nick’s hand and held it tightly “Fucking…   … _fuck_ dude. I don’t even know what to—“  
“Griffin.. yeah me neither.”      
Griffin squeezed Nick’s hand, it and the ground the only things real. Griffin didn’t want to close his eyes. He couldn’t help but feel that below a thin layer of earth The Blob still rippled, The Orange eternally trying to break back through the surface. He was certain they’d have nightmares for a while.  
But somehow, as they stared up, they both knew that it was over. No matter what, it was over for them.  
“So… what now?” Griffin said. “I think I might need a ride uh… back to my place” he chuckled.  
“fuck no you can walk” Nick said. “I’ll never drive again”  
“Yeah me neither” Griffin said with wide eyes.  
  
  
They lay in silence for a while.  
  
  
“Plus I _did_ come to your rescue so you owe me a car—“  
“ _No_ fuckin way McElroy”  
  
  
  
The wind blew Nick’s bangs into his face and with his free hand he brushed them out of his eyes.  
Griffin said “Wanna go finish recording that podcast?”  
  
  
Nick distractedly hummed his agreement.  
  
  
  
The sky was so blue.  


End file.
